The U.S. Marine Corps is investigating a nearly fatal training accident at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California. One Marine and three Navy sailors have been awarded for helping save the injured Marine’s life.
A Marine Corps press release noted that one Marine and the three sailors “acted swiftly” after a Marine was injured during an “incident” that took place on a live-fire range during the Service Level Training Exercise in July. According to the press release, the four service members “directly aided in saving the life of a Marine while awaiting a helicopter evacuation to a nearby hospital.”
“Cpl. Potter was one of the first to respond to the incident,” 2nd Lt. Reagan Johnson, a division spokesperson, told Stars and Stripes in an email on Thursday. “He immediately applied pressure to the wound, provided first aid, and assessed the casualty as he called for corpsmen.”
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Stars and Stripes reported that the Navy corpsmen provided lifesaving medical care and helped transport the injured Marine to a landing zone, where the Marine was airlifted and transported to a local trauma center. Johnson told Stars and Stripes that the injured Marine had been released from the hospital and was “expected to make a full recovery.”
According to Stars and Stripes, Marine Cpl. Cullen Potter and three Navy corpsmen, Petty Officer 1st Class Efrain Barrera, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Wegner, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Carlos Calvillo, provided emergency aid to the injured Marine. The Marine and sailors were awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for their heroic efforts.
“The immediate and responsive actions of our Marine and Sailors exemplify the professionalism and readiness that we value as a unit,” Lt. Col. Ted Driscoll, Commanding Officer of 1st Battalion, 2d Marine Regiment, 2d MARDIV, said. “Because of their swift actions, along with the additional support of other Marines, sailors, and civilians from the battalion, Tactical Training and Exercise Control Group, and the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, a Marine is still alive and on the road to recovery.”
