Speaker 1: (00:01)
The Navy has identified the seal candidate who died Friday after going through the final phase of Navy seal training known as hell week 24 year old. Kyle Mullen reported unidentified symptoms hours after the training ended and subsequently died. A second seal candidate also reported symptoms and is hospitalized. The Navy says Kyle Mullen's cause of death is currently under investigation. Joining me as KPBS, military, and veterans reporter Steve Walsh. Steve. Welcome. Hi
Speaker 2: (00:32)
Maureen, tell
Speaker 1: (00:33)
Us, what's known about when these two seal candidates began feeling sick and what their symptoms were. We
Speaker 2: (00:40)
Don't really know much more than what has come out in a couple of different, uh, press releases and a few clarifications from the, from the seals themselves. We know that they had, uh, just finished hell week that morning, that's that five and a half days where seals are often in almost constant motion. They get very little sleep they're they're wet in the whole time. Often treading water. You know, this time of year is about 57 degrees. They, uh, finished hell week that morning, they were not actively training when they somehow became sickened or ill. Both candidates were transported in the same ambulance at the same time, late in the afternoon at 5 41, Kyle Mullins died at scripts Corona, which is the closest hospital to buds. And then that second unnamed candidate he's in stable condition at, uh, the Naval hospital in San Diego. Then that's about what we know
Speaker 1: (01:35)
You refer to buds. What is
Speaker 2: (01:37)
That? So that's basic underwater demolition seals. That's basically seal basic training, no matter whether seals are stationed in the east or west coast. Everybody comes to buds here in San Diego for their basic training.
Speaker 1: (01:51)
Is it clear that the illness was related to the physical demands of hell week?
Speaker 2: (01:56)
You know, we just don't know from what they've told us so far, you know, seals typically don't say very much and that can lead to a lot of speculation. We know there are a lot of, uh, training accidents at, at buds it's incredibly physically and mentally demanding candidates routinely begin hallucinating after days without sleep things like Hypertherm and pneumonia come to mind. We've seen cases of heart defects that weren't found in screening physicals. The fact that two of them were transport. It seems to make it less likely that it was some sort of a heart defect, but, you know, we don't really know very much about exactly what was happening at that time. Can you tell
Speaker 1: (02:34)
Us a little more of what hell week is like and what the seals go through? It's
Speaker 2: (02:38)
Week four of buds, part of the first phase of sealed training it's well named you have five and a half days of physical urchin out on Coronado. You know, you can actually watch the seals carrying those rib boats along the strand on top of their heads. They do that for hours. Well into the night they tread water in the surf for hours. Well into the night. Again, people fall asleep while paddling, they fall asleep. During knees, it's designed to be incredibly grueling instructors wi with bullhorns will taunt the candidates, you know, telling them to give up and go
Speaker 1: (03:12)
Home and do many seals actually give up, drop out of training during hell week.
Speaker 2: (03:17)
Indeed. You know, the seals say on average, 70 to 80% of the candidates drop out of buds, most of those dropouts will happen during hell weight. You know, it's by design, you know, this isn't like a really hard physics class at Harvard. You know, if you score high enough, you pass the seals, bring in more candidates than they need with the intention of weeding out Mo people, even highly qualified people by doing it this way, the seals believe they end up with the candidates with the, the most mental toughness.
Speaker 1: (03:47)
Has there been any effort to revise, seal training and hell week to make it less dangerous
Speaker 2: (03:53)
There have. I mean, they they've switched some things around hell weeks, uh, has moved around in the calendar to cadets more time to get into shape. There's been more oversight, but the instructors are, are, are basically working seals. They do a tour at buzz and then, then they go back into the field. So the seals are unusual in special forces. Uh, by the time you become part of like Delta force, you're an elite member of the us army, but many, if not, most seals come from outside the Navy, they go to bootcamp and then they go right into buds. Kyle Mullins was 24 years old, but he had been in the Navy for less than a year. He was a star athlete in New Jersey. You know, many seals are college wrestlers rather than top performing sailors. They start, uh, training on their own. Well, before they arrive at buds and there there's a whole industry designed to help people get ready. So, you know, there have been many changes to it, but still, you know, this is an elite force and very separate from the rest of what goes on in the Navy,
Speaker 1: (04:52)
Who is likely to be held responsible. If this death is linked to hell week training is anyone well,
Speaker 2: (04:58)
The Navy is responsible for anything that has happens at buds, but, uh, we'll have to see, uh, from the reports in the case of, uh, of, uh, of, uh, James Loveless, uh, who, uh, died early on in buds during the first week, uh, the medical examiner initially ruled at a homicide after a videotape showed that the buds instructor pushed Lovelace under the water, which they're not supposed to do. So Loveless though also had an enlarged heart. So ultimately the instructor was, was never prosecuted.
Speaker 1: (05:27)
And that was back in 2016, right
Speaker 2: (05:29)
Back in 2016. And there was also a suicide right around the same time. Is it
Speaker 1: (05:34)
Clear that the Navy will release information about this death and hospitalization, or will it just be kept away from the public? A,
Speaker 2: (05:42)
Something will have to come out. There are reports that are foible, but, um, the seals are incredibly secretive. Um, we'll see, they say that not, they're not going to say anything more until those reports come out. Um, we're not expecting any sort of press conference or anything else. We're just gonna have to stay on this one.
Speaker 1: (05:59)
I've been speaking with K PBS, military and veterans reporter, Steve Walsh. And Steve, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: (06:06)
Thanks.
