Instructor Sentenced to 90 Days in Sailor’s Death

A Navy rescue-swimmer instructor was found guilty Friday of negligent homicide and sentenced to 90 days in the brig in the drowning of a panic-stricken recruit forced under water during a training exercise.

The court-martial panel of five officers rejected a more serious charge of involuntary manslaughter against Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Combe, 28, of Tempe, Ariz. It also convicted him of conspiracy to commit battery.

In addition to the confinement, Combe was reduced in rank one grade to petty officer 3rd class and reprimanded.

Students Ordered to Sing

Combe was convicted of repeatedly dunking 19-year-old recruit Lee Mirecki in a swimming pool at Pensacola Naval Air Station while other students were ordered to face away and sing the national anthem.

“Each time I hear ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ played for a gold medal winner at the Olympics, my joy is overshadowed by my thoughts that my brother, Lee, heard the same song as he fought for his life,” said the victim’s sister, Lynn Johansen, in a telephone interview from Appleton, Wis., the Mireckis’ hometown.

Combe faced up to a year in prison on the negligent homicide count--contrasted with three years for manslaughter--along with a bad-conduct discharge and the loss of pay and allowances. The battery count carries a six-month maximum sentence.

Combe became the first serviceman convicted in the March 2 death. One officer was acquitted, a second was reprimanded and four instructors were punished administratively.

The court-martial panel found that Combe was guilty of “repeatedly forcing the said Airman Recruit Mirecki’s head under water,” breaking his grip on a pool rope, grabbing him in a rear head hold and forcing him back into the water during the exercise.

Mirecki panicked during a lifesaving drill known as “sharks and daisies,” climbed out of the pool and asked to quit the voluntary training, but instructors threw him back in, witnesses testified during the three-week trial.

Combe admitted placing Mirecki in a head hold and dunking him to break his grip on a rope dividing the pool about 90 seconds before the recruit collapsed.

Defense lawyer W. H. F. Wiltshire blamed “the system” for Mirecki’s death during closing arguments Thursday. He claimed Combe was just following orders and the custom of forcing reluctant trainees to continue drills.