In early February, a new U.S. Navy In order to control the hydrops in the lungs and coughing up blood caused by strenuous swimming, the recruit continued to use the illegal drug Viagra hard anti-high-intensity training before his death. On the day of his death, the recruit coughed up as many as 946 milliliters of blood-
Because of the arduous and long upfront training for the Navy SEALs, many recruits have tried to pass the training with the help of illegal drugs. In the aftermath of the incident, about 40 members of the recruit's team tested positive or admitted to using the banned drug. It is reported that at least a dozen people have been killed in Navy SEAL training.
↑ Navy SEALs candidates train at the Naval Special Operations Center in California
First Trial:
It lasted less than a day before fainting on the ground
In January, 24-year-old Kyle Mullen returned to the California coast to confidently attend the U.S. Navy SEALs' harsh selection course. The 1.93-meter-tall candidate, who captained the yale football team, was physically gifted to make him through the previous tests until his first participation in the Navy SEALs' Basic Underwater Blasting Training (BUD/S) last August. At that time, he spent more than a year preparing for the trial but only lasted less than a day.
It is reported that the basic underwater blasting training is a six-month selection process, and it is also the only way to enter the Navy SEALs, which is mainly divided into three stages: basic training, diving and land combat. Among them, the first stage is where most recruits' dreams end, and it is also the stage where "Hell Week" is located. "Hell Week" is regarded as the "peak" of the difficulty of the Navy SEAL trial, and the recruits can only sleep about 4 hours a day for nearly 6 days, and need to carry wood or carry out hours of extreme physical training in an inflatable boat.
According to Mullen's mother, on the first day of Mullen's basic underwater blasting training last year, the instructors had recruits run, crawl, sit-ups and push-ups on the hot beach without any rest. During a group game later in the day, as the recruits weighed 170 pounds on their heads in inflatable boats, Mullen suddenly fainted to the ground, only to be scolded by a coach.
↑ Kyle Mullen develops facial puffiness during "Hell Week" training
At that time, medical staff measured Mullen's body temperature as high as 104 degrees Fahrenheit (equivalent to 40 degrees Celsius), so he was sent to the hospital for treatment on the grounds of heat stroke. Mullen called in the ambulance to tell her mother that she hadn't drunk a single drop of water all day. Subsequently, Mullen was assigned to an internal rehabilitation team with a 4-month recovery period before attending training for the second time. It was during this time that Mullen learned about "performance-enhancing drugs" from others in the rehabilitation team.
Second trial
Rely on Viagra to survive the "Hell Week", coughing up nearly 1 liter of blood before dying
After recovering, Mullen persevered to the last day of Hell Week during his second trial, but his life stopped there. By the middle of Hell Week, 189 recruits on Mullen's team had quit or fallen injured, compared to 210 at the start of training. At that time, Mullen had been coughing up blood for several days in a row, so tired that his eyes could not be opened. Mullen's mother repeatedly persuaded him to go to the hospital immediately for treatment, but was refused.
"He said, 'No, Mom, if I want to go to the hospital, they'll let me get out of training first.' Besides, I just got SIPE (pulmonary edema due to swimming). Mullen's mother recalled that at the suggestion of other Navy SEAL candidates, Mullen had been secretly taking the drug Viagra, which violated Navy regulations, which was also used as a potential treatment for swimming-induced pulmonary edema. Many of the recruits who took part in the Navy SEALs trial were reported to have suffered from the disease.
During Hell Week, recruits swim in cold waters and run more than 200 miles on the beach. Relying on Viagra to control sipe's symptoms, Mullen's physical condition gradually fell short of that of his teammates. According to one team member, if Mullen was left behind while running, the instructors would let him do so-called "remedial" training alone, that is, extra push-ups, sit-ups and swimming, which made Mullen's condition worse.
On February 4 of this year, on the last day of Hell Week, Mullen was so weak that he staggered against his teammates, but his eyes were filled with tears of joy and relief. During the routine check-up session after the training, the whole class of recruits insisted that Mullen go to the examination first. Unexpectedly, Mullen took only 5 minutes to complete the medical examination. That day, he took a piece of pizza and went back to the barracks to lie down and rest.
A few hours later, the team found Mullen lying on the ground unresponsive. When paramedics arrived at the scene, they found that Mullen's heart had long since stopped beating, and then declared him dead. According to the autopsy report, Mullen coughed badly from pulmonary edema before his death, and the bloody phlegm even filled a 32-ounce drink bottle, which is about 946 milliliters. On the afternoon of Mullen's death, another candidate who had survived Hell Week was intubated, and two more recruits were admitted to hospital that night.
The same team of 40 recruits
Test positive or admit to use banned drugs
There are reports that while collecting Mullen's belongings, the Navy found syringes and "performance-enhancing drugs" in his car. At the time, the captain in charge of the training immediately ordered an investigation and found that about 40 candidates tested positive for the drug or admitted to steroids and other banned drugs. As of now, the U.S. Navy has remained silent about the "drug ban storm" during the training, saying only that it will release reports of training deaths and drug use this fall.
According to a new recruit who took part in Navy SEAL training in May this year, despite mullen's bloody case, some recruits still illegally use physically enhancing drugs during trials, especially a selective androgen receptor modulator (SARMS) that is difficult to detect. Matthew Fedoruk, chief scientific officer of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, noted that some of the team members rely on chemicals that could interfere with the functioning of the heart, liver and other critical organs that are already under incredible stress during brutal training.
↑ The Navy SEALs' pre-training was arduous and long
Former Navy SEALs Benjamin Milligan noted that THE SEALs' drug abuse problem is a natural consequence of its training model.
"No one can do everything a coach asks for, so you have to learn how to cheat to get through training." "Basically, they [the SEALs] are picking out the people who are willing to cheat," Millikan said. After Mullen's death, his family accused the SEALs of trying to shirk their responsibilities by not only failing to hold the training course itself brutal, but also describing the incident as an "anomaly." Mullen's mother said bluntly in an interview: "They killed him. ”
In recent months, the Navy SEALs' head of recruit training has reportedly eliminated some of the most stringent regulations, including pre-dawn training and weight-bearing running. In addition to "Hell Week," recruits are required to guarantee six hours of sleep per night during training, and all candidates are required to undergo 24-hour medical monitoring after "Hell Week." However, the risks of beach training remain.
Only a month after Mullen's death, a Navy SEAL recruit was shaking violently after late-night surf training and briefly lost his reflexes. That night, the team members immediately called the infirmary, but no one answered. They then gave the recruit a hot shower and called the 911 emergency number for civilian medical help. The next day, the instructor punished the class for doing extra push-ups for "calling the 911 emergency number." Whenever someone fell down due to physical weakness, the instructor asked the recruits who had been treated in the hospital the night before to jump into the cold waves again.
Red Star News reporter Hu Yiling
Edited by Guan Li Xiao Ziqi
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