A recently graduated, enlisted Marine is dead following a live-fire training event at Camp Pendleton, California.
Investigation into the death of Joseph Whaley from Columbia, Tennessee, is ongoing after he was killed during a school of infantry training, WSMV reported.
“The command is fully cooperating with the investigation efforts,” Maj. Joshua J. Pena told KTLA. “SOI-W is providing support to the family and peers of the deceased during this difficult time. There is no additional information available at this time.”
Walley joined the Marine Corps after graduating from Columbia Central High School in 2022. After finishing boot camp, he was assigned to the School of Infantry – West.
“At SOI, recently graduated enlisted Marines continue their education and training to become more proficient in the fundamentals of being a rifleman,” according to the Marine Corps website. “Marines with a Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) of infantry are trained at the Infantry Training Battalion (ITB), while all non-infantry Marines are trained at the Marine Combat Training Battalion (MCT).”
The young Marine’s death comes just weeks after three United States Marines were found dead in a vehicle at a gas station parking lot near Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune, Breitbart News’s Simon Kent reported:
The three men were named by the Marine Corps as Lance Cpl. Tanner J. Kaltenberg, 19, from Madison, Wis.; Lance Cpl. Merax C. Dockery, 23, from Pottawatomie, Okla.; and Lance Cp. Ivan R. Garcia, 23, from Naples, Fla.
All three U.S. Marines were motor vehicle operators, the sheriff’s office said.
This is not the first time a Marine was killed during a training exercise at Camp Pendleton. Three years ago, eight Marines and one Navy sailor were killed after an amphibious assault vehicle sank off the coast of San Clemente Island, NPR News reported.
