Very sad news - Midshipman dies during PRT

DD is a youngster and has already seen two shipmates pass away. One was a firstie right before A-N Game two years ago. Now this. She took the PRT couple days ago and it never crossed my mind that she might suffer anything more than a pulled muscle. I’m now counting my blessings.

Very sad, very tragic. Hug your loved ones every day, if you can. You just never know...
 
I’ve stayed quiet as the news developed, hoping the early reports from my Yard sources were off, but they were sadly not, as later updates confirmed. I will leave it to official sources to report details.

For parents wondering how this is handled, the military, sadly, is very good at this. A Casualty Assistance Calls Officer will be assigned to the PNOK in the hometown, as well as a CACO at USNA, who will drop all other duties to liaison with the family, along with an assigned chaplain. There will be a beautifully done memorial service for the Brigade and family at the Chapel. The mid might go home, with a uniformed escort, or as some do, stay at USNA, if the family desires. The Chaplains will be everywhere, offering grief counseling and support. There will be an autopsy to determine official cause of death; there will be a JAGMAN investigation conducted to document the circumstances and determine any contributing factors.

If you have never seen the movie “Taking Chance,” with Kevin Bacon, I recommend it. The mid will be treated with every respect, and the family cared for, including the remaining mid sibs.

And I am sure the USNA Glee Club might be singing Eternal Father at the service. This is one of my favorites, the combined Glee Club in a Pearl Harbor tribute.

 
It really is like losing a sibling. My DS still mourns the loss of a classmate at USMMA ten years ago. Prayers to all mids and the whole USNA family during this difficult time.
 
Capt MJ said:
I’ve stayed quiet as the news developed, hoping the early reports from my Yard sources were off, but they were sadly not, as later updates confirmed. I will leave it to official sources to report details.

For parents wondering how this is handled, the military, sadly, is very good at this. A Casualty Assistance Calls Officer will be assigned to the PNOK in the hometown, as well as a CACO at USNA, who will drop all other duties to liaison with the family, along with an assigned chaplain. There will be a beautifully done memorial service for the Brigade and family at the Chapel. The mid might go home, with a uniformed escort, or as some do, stay at USNA, if the family desires. The Chaplains will be everywhere, offering grief counseling and support. There will be an autopsy to determine official cause of death; there will be a JAGMAN investigation conducted to document the circumstances and determine any contributing factors.

If you have never seen the movie “Taking Chance,” with Kevin Bacon, I recommend it. The mid will be treated with every respect, and the family cared for, including the remaining mid sibs.

And I am sure the USNA Glee Club might be singing Eternal Father at the service. This is one of my favorites, the combined Glee Club in a Pearl Harbor tribute.

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Will someone help family navigate the airlines/airport too? I'm thinking they will want to be on the yard asap and hoping they will be escorted for travel.....Prayers to all involved. The PRT is the penultimate of relatable experiences for every Mid and the Brigade really is a family.
 
CalvinBall said:
Will someone help family navigate the airlines/airport too? I'm thinking they will want to be on the yard asap and hoping they will be escorted for travel.....Prayers to all involved. The PRT is the penultimate of relatable experiences for every Mid and the Brigade really is a family.
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Yes, assistance officer is available to travel with the Family.
 
I’m left wondering how does this happen. Obviously we don’t know the circumstances but is this something a parent really needs to worry about while they’re in school. Is the physical demands this dangerous that you can lose your life?
 
CKR2024 said:
I’m left wondering how does this happen. Obviously we don’t know the circumstances but is this something a parent really needs to worry about while they’re in school. Is the physical demands this dangerous that you can lose your life?
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Early indications was a heart attack. Before we start wondering, we need to learn the results of the autopsy. Was there a heart defect for instance.
 
CKR2024 said:
I’m left wondering how does this happen. Obviously we don’t know the circumstances but is this something a parent really needs to worry about while they’re in school. Is the physical demands this dangerous that you can lose your life?
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My honest answer is no. This is a horrible incident. I had a classmate pass away in their sleep. I had a classmate pass away after a PRT when they were all sitting around chat chatting and catching up. All undetectable heart conditions. Saw it happen in the Marines too. Capt MJ did a great job summarizing the behind the scenes. I have been a CACO the worst and best job anyone could have. I can still remember those calls like they were yesterday.

Terrible loss, my condolences to the family and Brigade.
 
I liken it to being a parent of a newborn. We do all the right things. We worry, put them on their backs to sleep, pull out bedding, swaddle them properly, set the temperature correctly in the room. Properly humidify the air. Do all the things we can to set them up for survival, yet sometimes there is still a SIDS death. So NO we don't worry about them. They ARE in good hands, just like they were in our good hands as infants.

These things happen and will continue to happen. All precautions are taken that can be taken. Just like we do with them as infants. This reminds me of @heartofGrace (public Instagram account), the plebe that found her very rare heart condition during plebe summer. Super athletic. Super fit. Her condition showed up on the yard one day.

I am so very heartbroken for the pain this special family is/will go through. There are no words that can even do anything to help. I can not imagine the grief. I wrap the Mids family and friends in my heart and thoughts...special prayers will be said today all over the nation for this fallen sailor.
 
Over the years there have been midshipmen (and cadets) at other SAs where sudden death occurs due to an unknown physical factor. It could have happened at the SA or while shooting hoops in their own backyard or sleeping over at a friend’s house or studying in the local college library. During my time as a BattO at USNA, we had a mid who did not wake up one morning. No unusual activity. As I recall, the mid had an undetected heart structural abnormality, and it was just a matter of time. This is not unknown at other college campuses. The autopsy and mandatory JAGMAN death investigation will identify any contributing factors, including negative ones, and take any appropriate steps.

The military is inherently a challenging place to work, given its missions, gear and operating locations. Hundreds of thousands of military folks take their service’s PRT, usually twice a year, without fatal results. There are those cases, though, in both military and civilian life, where a fit person doing a relatively routine workout experiences a fatal outcome.

Parents will always worry about their children, no matter their ages. The PRT is a routine physical event, and SA mids and cadets are a healthy, fit population with active lifestyles. On the worry scale for a child in the military, the PRT is way down there, IMHO.

The subsequent public news releases may never identify COD, due to privacy reasons, or could be a general statement. If any failure on USNA’s part is involved, I have no doubt local press will ferret it out.

I know the Brigade is grieving today, along with staff and faculty. A shipmate has been lost.
 
To echo/expand a couple of points from Capt MJ's excellent post
Capt MJ said:
Hundreds of thousands of military folks take their service’s PRT, usually twice a year, without fatal results. There are those cases, though, in both military and civilian life, where a fit person doing a relatively routine workout experiences a fatal outcome.
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Many thousands of these military folk taking the test are a LOT older than the Mids at USNA ranging up through their 40's and beyond. If you think about a 45 year old reservist who might have very limited access or opportunity to work out/prepare but is determined to keep up with "the kids" it could be the recipe for disaster but thankfully, tragedies are indeed rare.
By the way, personal example - as a 40+ year old senior officer it was my standing offer at each PRT to all of my subordinates that if they could beat my PRT score, I would buy them a beer and I was determined to buy only for myself while also trying to set a good example (high PRT score).

Capt MJ said:
The PRT is a routine physical event, and SA mids and cadets are a healthy, fit population with active lifestyles. On the worry scale for a child in the military, the PRT is way down there, IMHO.
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In all of my years doing PRTs from literally the first PRTs that the Navy required (I believe 1984) and seeing thousands of people of varying ranks, ages and levels of conditioning perform the PRT, I only ever saw one person require immediate medical attention (chest pains) and that was a 28 yr old LT at the first PRT he ever did.
 
Do you need to worry more because your kid attends USNA or is subject to PRT or is required to do summer training in a potential war zone? Of course. Worry is inherent in parenting, even more so when our offspring choose the military.

Yet each year, civilian students die in the course of attending regular college. They are the victims of drunken hazing gone wrong and drunken parties gone awry; of unknown heart conditions striking during a hot sports practice; of freak accidents on the way to class; and so on.

The PRT can be strenuous. It’s supposed to be. It’s meant to determine physical readiness of people preparing to lead others on potentially very demanding endeavors. But each year, thousands of cadets/mids take it twice a year, and only in an incredibly rare circumstance do they not all come out alive.

So again, should we worry? Of course. They’re our kids, they’re far away, they’ve chosen an inherently risky path. But in the end, let’s put it all in perspective — death in the service of one’s country, or in the course of pledging Gamma Lambda Phi and being left to stew unconscious in one’s own vomit after a night of pointless hazing.
 
I had a tenant college student die in my house from an interaction of a antibiotic given to him for the flu. It apparently wasn’t the flu but a heart condition.

I also had a future tenant commit suicide at the college after she signed the lease.

It’s all sad. I can’t imagine the pain.
 
MidCakePa said:
Do you need to worry more because your kid attends USNA or is subject to PRT or is required to do summer training in a potential war zone? Of course. Worry is inherent in parenting, even more so when our offspring choose the military.

Yet each year, civilian students die in the course of attending regular college. They are the victims of drunken hazing gone wrong and drunken parties gone awry; of unknown heart conditions striking during a hot sports practice; of freak accidents on the way to class; and so on.

The PRT can be strenuous. It’s supposed to be. It’s meant to determine physical readiness of people preparing to lead others on potentially very demanding endeavors. But each year, thousands of cadets/mids take it twice a year, and only in an incredibly rare circumstance do they not all come out alive.

So again, should we worry? Of course. They’re our kids, they’re far away, they’ve chosen an inherently risky path. But in the end, let’s put it all in perspective — death in the service of one’s country, or in the course of pledging Gamma Lambda Phi and being left to stew unconscious in one’s own vomit after a night of pointless hazing.
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+1 to @MidCakePa ....All fraternities at DD’s (civilian, obviously )school are on suspension after a freshman pledge died from alcohol poisoning 😰
 
Also important to keep in mind that the Naval Academy implemented a new PRT assessment consisting of cadence pushups, planks, and the 1.5 mile run. A move from the old one which was pushups, curl ups, and the run.
 
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