Report Faults Commanders of Marine Who Died in Desert
“Poor planning” and a “total breakdown” in the chain of command were to blame in the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Jason J. Rother, 19, during desert training exercises at Twentynine Palms last summer, according a report released Monday by Marine Corps headquarters.
The conduct of Rother’s commanders “contradicts every principle of concerned leadership on which we (Marines) have traditionally prided ourselves,” Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Al Gray said in a statement.
Gray said that the battalion commander and executive officers should be held accountable for the tragedy. Gray had ordered the second, more comprehensive investigation of Rother’s disappearance after the man’s parents complained to the media and congressional leaders last fall that not enough had been done to find their son.
An initial investigation by the battalion commander, Lt. Col. E. J. Robeson IV, led to court-martial charges being filed against Rother’s immediate superiors.
Left behind last August when his unit pulled out after three days and nights of live-fire combat training at the 932-square-mile Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in the high desert, Rother wasn’t reported missing for nearly 48 hours. His body was found Dec. 4 during a training exercise by a San Bernardino County sheriff’s search and rescue unit.
Carrying only three 1-quart canteens of water, the young Marine had managed to hike 17 miles in 110-degree daytime temperatures before he collapsed and died a mile from a busy highway, according to desert survival experts from nearby Joshua Tree National Monument who helped locate the body.
Initially, Robeson relieved Rother’s company commander and platoon leader of their commands. In addition, he ordered that the two sergeants and a lieutenant who had dealt directly with Rother be tried for dereliction of duty and other charges.
On Monday, Gray ordered a review of the roles played by Robeson and his executive officer, Maj. Tony L. Holm, according to Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Fred Peck. Gray’s statement said, “Based upon additional recommendations made by the investigating officer . . . the commanding general of the 2nd Marine Division has been directed to . . . take appropriate action with respect to the battalion commander and the battalion executive officer of Rother’s unit.”
Rother’s death “was not an accident,” Gray stated in the release. “His death didn’t just happen. . . . It was the certain and foreseeable result of an attitude which I intend to erase from our corps.”
On Aug. 30, the final night of the rigorous 72-hour combat exercise, Rother’s battalion was ordered to make a motorized night march through a mountain pass and across the remote desert. Rother was posted at a checkpoint, one of several road guides directing traffic in the wilderness. When the guides were picked up before dawn, Rother was somehow left behind.
Investigators “concluded that poor planning and direction in the placement and recovery” of the road guides “caused the failure to pick him up.” Investigators termed the failure to report Rother missing a “total breakdown” in the chain of personnel accountability.
Rother was assigned to a squad under the command of Platoon Sgt. Christopher Clyde. Clyde’s court-martial is scheduled to start today. He and Squad Sgt. Thomas Turnell--whose court-martial is scheduled for Jan. 24--are accused of being derelict in their duties for not keeping track of Rother. They also face charges of going on unauthorized leave right after the exercise ended, according to officials.
Lt. Allen V. Lawson, who placed Rother at the checkpoint, has been charged with dereliction of duty for failing to post the guides in pairs, as ordered, and for failing to account for Rother’s whereabouts and welfare. Lawson is currently subject to a pretrial investigation, officials said.