Army reveals new details on SEAL team commander’s training death
By Geoff Ziezulewicz
Thursday, Oct 20
Navy Cmdr. Brian Bourgeois, commanding officer of SEAL Team 8, died Dec. 7, 2021, following injuries sustained in a training accident three days earlier. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro posthumously promoted Bourgeois to the rank of captain this week. (Navy)
A Navy SEAL team commander’s death during a helicopter training event last December had several primary causes, officials confirmed for the first time Thursday.
They included communication issues within the aircraft, an early release of the rope that then-Cmdr. Brian Bourgeois used to descend to the target area, and “a lack of adequate communication between the aircrew and the partner ground force,” special operations officials confirmed.
Bourgeois, 43, was fatally injured Dec. 4, 2021, during the fast-rope Joint Special Operations Command training evolution in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
The decorated combat veteran and commander of SEAL Team 8 fell 40 feet from an Army Black Hawk helicopter and succumbed to his injuries Dec. 7, 2021.
https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2022/10/20/army-reveals-new-details-on-seal-team-commanders-training-death/
