A Hampton Roads-based Navy SEAL died Wednesday morning while conducting parachute training in Arizona.
His name is being withheld until his family can be notified.
The SEALs were doing “free-fall training,” said Navy Lt. David Luckett, spokesman for Naval Special Warfare Group 2, which is headquartered in Virginia Beach at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek. “The Navy SEALs are expected to be proficient in a wide variety of warfare tactics. He was conducting the training to get proficient in the air portion of sea, air and land, which combines to make up what SEAL stands for.”
The incident is under investigation.
This year has already been an emotional one for the East Coast-based SEAL teams.
On Feb. 4, two 29-year-old Navy SEALs — Chief Petty Officers Nathan H. Hardy of New Hampshire and Michael E. Koch of Pennsylvania — were killed by small arms fire in Iraq.
Three days later, Petty Officer 1st Class Louis A. Souffront, a 25-year-old a bomb expert attached to a Hampton Roads-based SEAL team in Iraq, was killed when a bomb exploded.
Six Navy SEALs from Hampton Roads were injured in the blast.
There are four SEAL teams based at Little Creek. Navy SEALs also have a presence at Dam Neck in Virginia Beach with the Naval Special Warfare Development Group.
Source: STEPHANIE HEINATZ