The US Navy will review its training and safety procedures after a recruit died during boot camp last week – the second such death in recent months.
Kelsey Nobles, of Mobile, Alabama, died Tuesday after collapsing during training at the Navy Recruit Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois.
The 18-year-old was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Her cause of death remains under investigation, but it has prompted a review of procedures at the Navy’s lone recruit training facility, a spokesman at the center told Military.com.
“Recruit Training Command reviewed the training, safety, medical processes and overall procedures regarding the implementation of the Physical Fitness Assessment and found no discrepancies in its execution,” Lt. Joseph Pfaff said in an email. “However, there is a much more in-depth investigation going on and, if information is discovered during the course of the investigation revealing deficiencies in our processes and procedures that could improve safety in training, it would be acted upon.”
Pfaff said a similar investigation into the Feb. 22 death of Kierra Evans is ongoing. The Navy Times reported that Evans died while completing her physical fitness assessment about a week before she was set to graduate.
Pfaff said in an email to The Post that Navy officials are conducting an investigation into Nobles’ death just as it does for all sailors who die while on active duty.
“Until that investigation is complete, it is inappropriate to comment on the details beyond what has already been released,” the email read. “The Navy, and Recruit Training Command, take the welfare of our recruits and Sailors very seriously and are investigating the cause of this tragic loss. Her next of kin have been notified. Our thoughts are with Seaman Recruit Nobles’ family and friends during this tragic time.”
Nobles, meanwhile, was just two weeks shy of graduation, ABC News reports. Her father, Harold Nobles, told WKRG that doctors said she went into cardiac arrest after a fitness exam and could not be revived. He’s now looking for some answers from Navy officials, according to the station.
“For me, I’m just like, ‘What’s wrong?’ ” Harold Nobles asked WKRG. “These young people are so excited about serving their country and going into the military. Are they doing enough to check them? Does physical testing need to be more in depth?”
In a statement to the station, officials from Baker High School, which Nobles attended, praised Nobles as a hardworking woman of “outstanding character” who was known for a positive attitude and mature demeanor.
