Senior Navy SEAL leaders reprimanded over trainee’s death

The Navy’s Special Warfare Command has reprimanded three officers connected to the February death of a SEAL candidate who collapsed and died hours after completing the Hell Week test, the service has revealed. 

Capt. Brian Drechsler, commanding officer of the Naval Special Warfare Center; Capt. Brad Geary, former commanding officer of Naval Special Warfare’s Basic Training Command; and an unnamed senior medical officer received reprimand letters but were not directly blamed or fired for the death of Seaman Kyle Mullen, 24, the The Associated Press reported. 

Drechsler and the medical officer remain in their positions, while Geary has moved to a staff job that was planned before Mullen’s death. 

Mullen died Feb. 4 after completing Hell Week, the grueling, more-than-five-day training test that caps the first part of the physically and mentally difficult Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training course in Coronado, Calif.  

A Navy investigation into his death, released Wednesday, found that Mullen died “in the line of duty, not due to his own misconduct,” raising questions about how the service monitors trainees, who don’t always report medical issues over fears of having to fall back in training. 

Mullen died of cardiac arrest caused by acute pneumonia after he finished Hell Week and was taken to his barracks room via wheelchair, according to the report. A medical officer on duty recommended they call 911 but that didn’t happen, and Mullen became unresponsive about 90 minutes later. Paramedics were called, and he later died at Sharp Coronado Hospital. 

Several of Mullen’s classmates told investigators that he was coughing up blood and pink foam and struggled to breathe during Hell Week prior to his death. But the classmates also said Mullen didn’t want to seek medical care. 

The report found Mullen was suffering from a swimming induced pulmonary edema — where water accumulates in the lungs — and had an enlarged heart, which contributed to his death. 

Mullen had previously been diagnosed with the pulmonary edema three weeks ahead of Hell Week, according to the report. The condition can happen in SEAL trainees, as they are often sent into the Pacific Ocean for exercises. 

Adding more scandal to the untimely death, performance-enhancing drugs including steroids and human growth hormone were found in Mullen’s belongings, though the Navy medical examiner did not test for drugs.  

The discovery of the drugs prompted Naval Special Warfare to launch a separate investigation that found about 40 other SEAL trainees had used such performance enhancing substances, The New York Times reported in August.  

Mullen’s death and the subsequent investigations have already triggered several changes as to how sailors are monitored during SEAL training and prompted expanded testing for performance-enhancing drugs, according to The Associated Press.  

A separate command investigation into Mullen’s death is ongoing, according to officials.