SEAL Trainee Dies After Survival Swim in Pool

A sailor training to become a Navy SEAL commando died a day after choking and losing consciousness during a survival swim in a pool, Navy officials said Friday.

Gordon Racine Jr., 25, of Houston died Thursday night at Sharp Coronado Hospital after more than a day on life support, Navy Lt. Dee Dee Van Wormer said.

The cause of death was not known. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego.

“So far the investigation has determined that all of the safety precautions were followed, and this was just a very isolated incident,” Van Wormer said.

Racine became the second trainee to die in the 36-year history of the elite SEAL (Sea-Air-Land) unit, Van Wormer said. In 1988, a student died of hypothermia while on a 5 1/2-mile ocean swim off Coronado.

Racine had requested to become a SEAL commando, and he was about a month into the rigorous six-month training program.

The accident happened about 2 p.m. Wednesday at a training center just across San Diego Bay. About an hour and a half after lunch, Racine and 80 others jumped into the Olympic-size pool.

The trainees, who were wearing shirts, pants and boots, were treading water and taking off their clothes to practice using them as flotation devices--as a sailor would if he fell overboard at sea.

Racine had been in the pool for five to eight minutes when he got sick, Van Wormer said.

“He had vomited in the pool, and he had inhaled some of that and swallowed it, and it blocked his airway,” Van Wormer said.

Racine passed out. He was pulled from the pool and given CPR before being taken to the hospital.

The Navy continued to investigate the accident Friday. SEAL training was suspended for a day Thursday “to kind of reflect what our procedures are, to give everyone a chance to get over this,” Van Wormer said.

She said Racine, an airman who had been in the Navy just under three years, previously had done a survival swim--something all Navy recruits do in boot camp.

A memorial service was planned in Coronado before Racine’s body is flown to Denver, where his father lives.

There are about 2,200 SEAL officers and enlisted men around the world. In 1996, the SEALs led the evacuation of Americans from civil war-torn Liberia. The commandos also provide expert training to the military forces of developing countries.