Posted on 10/02/2019 6:08:57 AM PDT by robowombat
Nimitz Sailor Dies After Fall From Aircraft Carrier
By: Sam LaGrone September 30, 2019 12:05 PM
Logistics Specialist Seaman Juan José Garcia-Herrera. US Navy Photo
This post will be updated with additional information as it becomes available.
A sailor assigned to USS Nimitz (CVN-68) died over the weekend following a fall aboard the aircraft carrier, a Navy spokesperson told USNI News on Monday.
Logistics Specialist Seaman Juan José Garcia-Herrera, 21, died early Saturday morning at the University of California San Diego Regional Trauma Center after the fall at just after 9 p.m. on Friday.
“Early reports indicate the sailor was returning to the ship, lost his balance after crossing the brow and fell from a lowered aircraft elevator. The cause of the accident is under investigation,” the service said in a statement.”
NCIS is currently investigating the circumstances of the fall, reported Navy Times.
Nimitz, homeported in Bremerton, Wash., departed earlier this month for pre-deployment training and is currently in port in San Diego.
Chicago native Garcia-Herrera had enlisted in the service in January 2017 and had been serving aboard the carrier since June 17, 2019, according to a copy of his releasable biography.
RIP Sailor
In all the the waters of the world there is not one drop of mercy.
L
Alcohol related? Regardless, RIP Sailor. Fair winds and following seas.
When your job is to spend every hour in the presence of equipment whose entire purpose is to kill people you really have to stay on your toes every second.
I've always said that there's no "routine" operation or act on a naval ship...even coming aboard can be dangerous, if you're not careful.
Fell? Was pushed?
Hope NCIS does a good investigation.
“Alcohol related? Regardless, RIP Sailor. Fair winds and following seas.”
I arrived there Wednesday afternoon for the Sargo SSN583 reunion and it pulled into port shortly after. Shore leave imbibing would seem to be a possibility. These guys have earned the right to blow off some steam, sad that it might end this way.
The article say he lost his balance and fell down the aircraft elevator opening.
Yeah. The phrase ‘spends money like a drunken sailor’ exists for a reason.
I sat next to a SEAL who was escorting the body of a fallen comrade, turns out the guy had fallen off of a pier and drowned. Puzzled, I asked ‘How do you drown a SEAL?’ ‘He was inebriated at the time.’
Not as uncommon as we would like, but as you say the stresses and responsibilities of the job earn the right, and often the necessity, to blow off some steam.
A few years back there was a DVD set focused on the Nimitz. Being an old Army guy I found it a bit confusing and quite interesting. One of the installments featured a call of “man overboard”.
He fell off the ramp, drunk.
The story made it seem like the sailor was returning from shore, i.e. boarding.
It is. Still, sailors often smuggle large quantities onboard in their bellies.
RIP.
When I was a boy I remember hearing a flag officer say ‘When at sea you are always at war.’ Being a kid it didn’t register . Later I noted the USN lost far more men in the age of sail to storm and mischance. As late as 1921 the fleet tug Conestoga vanished while in transit to Samoa via Pearl Harbor. So it remains today, the sea is always akin to an enemy.
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