SEAL's death at Miss. training facility raises safety concerns

Substandard design and construction that went undetected at a privately run combat training facility played a critical role in the death of a Navy SEAL last year in Mississippi, a Navy investigation has found.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Shapoor "Alex" Ghane, 22, was killed by a stray bullet that penetrated a stone-filled wall in a building known as a "shoot house," where SEALs from a San Diego-based team were practicing raids.

The investigation found that the building's walls were not even half as thick as required by the Department of Defense. The building's design, construction and testing were " not guided by any verifiable industry, government or scientific standard," the report said.

Two days before Ghane's death, another SEAL thought shots punched through a wall and embedded into a door. An examination did not prove the barrier had been pierced, but as a precaution the SEALs decided not to use that wall for training, according to the report.

The facility, Mid-South Institute in Lake Cormorant, Miss., has been in business since 1983 and trains up to 2,000 military personnel annually. The company received $768,000 from federal government contracts in the 2008 fiscal year, according to government contracting records.

Ghane's death on Jan. 30, 2008, was the first fatality there, according to the company.

Commercial shooting facilities like Mid-South are lightly regulated by state and local authorities and have "few codified safety practices," Rear Adm. Garry Bonelli, now deputy commander of Naval Special Warfare, wrote in support of the report, known as a manual of the judge advocate general.

In response to the report, Naval Special Warfare has ordered more rigorous inspections and legal oversight of commercial training facilities.

During the training, Ghane and several other SEALs were practicing a house raid, entering the building and firing live ammunition at close-range targets. A bullet pierced a wall and struck Ghane in the chest, just above his body armor.

Navy investigators found several flaws in the shoot house, a partially covered building with re-enforced doors and walls.

The walls consisted of 6 inches of gravel between two plastic retainer walls, supported by steel posts, according to the report. Defense Department standards call for 13-inch-thick walls.

Investigators found that Mid-South did not consult with a professional engineer "in the design, construction, or testing before placing the ballistic shoot-house walls into service." Maintenance consisted of pouring new gravel into the walls when the levels appeared low, the report said.

Ghane's death was the first of three SEAL training deaths last year that eventually led to a safety stand-down and the rewriting of procedures. Ghane was from SEAL Team Five in San Diego; the other two deaths involved SEALs from Hampton Roads who died in parachute training.

About half of the Navy's 2,500 SEALs are based at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base and Dam Neck Annex in Virginia Beach.

SEAL teams continue to train at Mid-South, although they no longer conduct live-fire exercises in the shoot house, said Cmdr. Greg Geisen, a spokesman for Naval Special Warfare.

Geisen said the shortage of military ranges has forced SEAL teams to use more private facilities. He added that the Navy has taken "every precaution imaginable" to minimize additional mishaps at Mid-South. They also are using more simulated ammunition in close combat training, he said.

Bonelli recommended tighter regulations for the use of private ranges by SEALs and incorporating new lessons into range safety courses.

Geisen said the SEALs have formed an inspection team with other Navy personnel and are reviewing facilities.

The Navy plans to build other ranges for special warfare, but there is still a shortage, he said.

"We train whenever we can get range time," he said.

In a statement, Mid-South Institute said it is cooperating with the investigation. It added that Naval Special Warfare asked the company not to comment on the incident.

Bonelli recommended no charges be brought against the safety officers on the scene.

Louis Hansen, (757) 446-2322, louis.hansen@pilotonline.com