Navy SEAL dies in free-fall parachute training accident

A Navy SEAL died over the weekend after collaborating in a free-fall parachute coaching, in response to a press release from Naval Particular Warfare Command.

Chief Particular Warfare Operator Michael Ernst was collaborating within the coaching on Sunday in Arizona when the accident occurred. Ernst was taken to the hospital, the place he was pronounced useless Sunday afternoon.

The incident is below investigation, and the Navy stated it might be inappropriate to remark additional right now. In army free-fall coaching, service members be taught and observe totally different parachuting strategies, which can embrace opening the parachute at excessive or low altitudes.

“Mike was an distinctive teammate. He was a devoted NSW Sailor who utilized his abilities and abilities in direction of a few of our nation’s hardest challenges, whereas selflessly mentoring his teammates,” stated Rear Adm. Keith Davids, the commander of Naval Particular Warfare Command. “Mike and his household will all the time be a part of the NSW household, and he won’t ever be forgotten.”

Ernst enlisted within the Navy in 2009 and attended SEAL coaching a 12 months later.

After finishing the coaching, he spent a lot of the final decade assigned to an East Coast Particular Warfare Unit. He was awarded the Silver Star, the army’s third-highest ornament for valor in fight, in addition to quite a lot of different awards and decorations.

The Navy can be investigating the dying of one other SEAL throughout coaching.

In December 2021, Cmdr. Brian Bourgeois, the commander of SEAL Workforce 8, died from accidents he suffered throughout a fast-rope coaching train, which entails descending rapidly on a rope from an aerial platform resembling a helicopter.