Families Honor 9 Killed in AAV Sinking as Investigations Continue - USNI News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By: Gidget Fuentes
August 21, 2020 5:33 PM • Updated: August 21, 2020 5:56 PM
Marines with Bravo Company, Battalion Landing Team 1/4, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, operate AAV-P7/A1 assault amphibious vehicles onto the well deck of the amphibious landing dock USS Somerset (LPD-25) on July 27, 2020. US Marine Corps Photo
Marines and sailors joined grieving families and friends at Camp Pendleton, Calif., on Friday to remember the Navy corpsman and eight Marines who died when their amphibious assault vehicle sank off Southern California three weeks ago.
The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit held the private memorial service to remember Navy Hospitalman Christopher Gnem, 22, of Stockton, Calif., and eight infantrymen with B Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines: Cpls. Wesley A. Rodd, 23, of Harris, Texas, and Cesar A. Villanueva, 21, of Riverside, Calif.; Lance Cpls. Marco A. Barranco, 21, of Montebello, Calif., Guillermo S. Perez, 19, of New Braunfels, Texas, and Chase D. Sweetwood, 19, of Portland, Ore.; and Pfcs. Bryan J. Baltierra, 19, of Corona, Calif., Evan A. Bath, 19, of Oak Creek, Wisc., and Jack Ryan Ostrovsky, 21, of Bend, Ore.
The service was closed to the public and the media. Imagery from the service would be released publicly on Saturday, the 15th MEU said in a statement.
Meanwhile, investigations continue into the cause of the July 30 accident, which prompted Marine Corps commandant Gen. David Berger to order a pause to any waterborne operations of the service's amtrac fleet.
"There are two concurrent investigations, an independent Naval Safety Center Investigation and a Command/Line of Duty Investigation," Col. Brad Bartelt, a spokesman with I Marine Expeditionary Force, said in a Friday statement. "The Command Investigation is comprised of a team immediately selected post-incident and is led by a Marine Corps colonel, mandated under the Judge Advocate General's Manual any time an incident involves loss of life to military personnel in a duty status."
The command investigation was assigned and is overseen by the I MEF commander, Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl.
"The Naval Safety Center investigation is conducted independently and is also ongoing," Bartelt said. That investigation usually includes "individuals from the command working with and in coordination with the Naval Safety Center," he added.
The 15th MEU was training at sea with the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group in exercises at the time of the mishap. The ill-fated amtrac was carrying a crew of three Marines and a squad-sized unit of 12 Marines and a Navy corpsman with B Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, from San Clemente Island. The AAV-P7/A1 was returning to amphibious transport dock USS Somerset (LPD-25) when it started taking on water.
A dozen other AAVs and a safety boat were in the waters off San Clemente Island's northwest coast when the crew in the vehicle reported taking on water, I MEF officials said in announcing the mishap.
Eight Marines were pulled from the ocean by responding crews before the 26-ton vehicle sank, eventually settling in about 385-foot deep water. Three of those Marines were evacuated to a local trauma center at Scripps Memorial La Jolla, and one, Perez, was pronounced dead that day.
The two other injured Marines were in serious condition and were later transported to Naval Hospital San Diego before being released, said 1st Lt. Brian Tuthill, a I MEF spokesman. Five other Marines rescued were treated and released back to their unit, officials said.
A search-and-rescue effort included three ships, small boats, a Coast Guard cutter, Navy MH-60 helicopters and a Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter, but no other survivors were found. The amtrac was pulled from the sea a week later after the Navy's Undersea Rescue Command brought in specialized equipment, including the Sibitzky remotely-operated vehicle and the Military Sealift Command-chartered merchant vessel HOS Dominator, to locate and recover the remains of the eight service members.
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While we all sit here and scream at each other over political sparring points, eight more of our children and brothers paid with their lives to uphold the and defend the US Constitution and our way of life.
May peace come to their respective families.
It might take a while, but it will happen.
Yesterday, I found a picture of my brother holding me down and farting in my face. It was heinous. That nut could fart the entire first stanza of The Star Spangled Banner. The photo made me laugh out loud. Sadness soon followed. Then, just moments later, I was watching a NatGeo program, and they actually showed his ship, the one on which he died. It was a small ship with a crew of 92 (give or take), but there it was, underway. They showed part of the interior, including the bridge. I've seen video online, but this was unexpected and wonderful. I went from sad to proud in literally, a half a second.
So yeah, the families will eventually find peace. They just might not know it right away.
Great story Sister......
Amen! Such a shame.
I hated riding in those things. Always felt like you were going to sink. Ours were the older LVTP’s but basically the same track.
RIP brothers ..... we have the watch.
This is tragic. I noticed how young each of the victims were which tells me they did not have a lot of experience so I'm wondering where was the leader who did have the experience?
Not all of them died so I suspect the more senior NCO’s and perhaps an officer made it out.
They’ll all be feeling like shit right about now but such is the business or war. Training or otherwise.
I thought the purpose of training was preparing our kids not killing them. There is clearly negligence here whether it's in the chain of command or the equipment they were put in.
I find it weird that you can be so flippant.
He's not being flip PJ. As much as I would like to call it a case of negligence, every time one of these AAVs hits the water there is a chance it will take on more water than it can handle. A wave hitting at the wrong time from the wrong direction...... Driving off the ship's ramp at with the ship pitching listing to the wrong angle....
What our kids in uniform do is dangerous. The training is there to teach them to minimize those dangers, but you can never get away from them. In the 1980s, carrier battlegroups on a 9 month deployment would lose an average of 10 persons. Those levels are now down to less than three. Still too many though..... It's a dangerous job no matter what color your uniform is. You question their age.... I can't say what it is today, but at one time, it was not uncommon for the average age for the six-thousand man crew to be 19.5 years of age. When I was in college, I was living with 21-22 year old boys. When I got to the ship I was working with 18-19 year old men. I don't seem to be able to find the right words for you right now. Maybe later.
Hope you are well.
We will have to disagree because in my mind it's negligence. The tin can was taking on too much water = defect or damaged. Someone put those kids in a defective or a compromised vehicle.
All is well with me just busy busy busy with work. Hope you are well and staying safe.
Well, you clearly haven't experienced it first hand so i suppose your opinion is understandable. I am not being "flippant" though. Far from it actually.
Training for war can be dangerous business. The harder they train, the better the chance that someone gets hurt but it also yields a much better chance they don't die if it comes to war. That's the point and that's just the reality of it.
Was there negligence? Perhaps but they'll get to the bottom of it and the people responsible will be held accountable. That is if they aren't already dead.
I guess we do have more in common. Back in the mid 1980s, a detachment from SEAL Team 2 visited our station on the South of Sicily and did some training. One of the more memorable events was that they as a team entered the local 10K run on a weekend, and they ran it in formation..."for fun". The entire team came in first place.
That and we had a standing evening game of Trivial Pursuit for the ten days they were at our facility. They were popping Motrin like Pez.
Very cool MUVA.
If I can ask a more personal question.... The patchwork done to put you back together..... Done by the VA, or private?
I am heartbroken at the loss of my military brothers. I look forward to the final report of what caused this tragedy.
A very sad situation.
RIP
Always a sad situation when we lose family like this. RIP brothers. (Always hated those tracks, in one that rolled in the surf in '87. Semper Fi, Alpha 1/9)
So sorry for the loss of young life