The entire U.S. Marine Corps will have a 24-hour “operational pause” within the next month to review safety procedures.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller issued a statement justifying the pause saying “training accidents and destructive behavior by a small number of Marines” are signs that a safety review is necessary. Eighty Marines died in non-combat-related fatalities in fiscal year 2016, a Military Times records review reveals.
“We have a culture of combat excellence, but we have to guard against complacency and a lack of focus at home station,” Neller continued. “We are losing too many Marines to avoidable death and injury,” he lamented.
Two Marine Corps fighter jets crashed in a training exercise just the day after Neller’s announcement. The incident follows ten other high profile incidents spanning two years, amounting to nearly a billion dollars in lost aircraft. The accidents highlight defense readiness issues, which President-elect Trump pledges to tackle in office. “If you fly less and maintain slower, there’s a higher likelihood of accidents,” Marine Corps General John Paxton explained in March to the Senate Committee on Armed Services.
The operational pause also follows two accidental drownings at a U.S. base in Okinawa in October, and the death of a recruit at Marine Corps basic training Nov. 5. The death came just a week after another recruit is reportedly in critical condition after suffering a two story fall.
Another Marine reportedly committed suicide in March by throwing himself over a barracks stairwell and falling nearly two stories. The incident launched a high-profile investigation into drill instructor practices within the Marine Corps.
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