XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: artfell@thinkprogress.org   
      
   Everybody knowns Islamists are allergic to water.   
      
   CAMP PENDLETON – Military officials have relieved a Marine   
   officer of his command and ordered major changes to a training   
   program following the January drowning of an 18-year-old during   
   an excruciating swimming test at Camp Pendleton.   
      
   A four-month military investigation determined that Maj. Adam   
   Burch “allowed a number of unsafe conditions to exist” that   
   contributed to the Jan. 13 drowning of Joshua Islam, according   
   to an email Thursday from Col. Sean Gibson, spokesman for the   
   U.S. Marines Corps.   
      
   Burch was relieved of command on May 15 “for a loss of trust and   
   confidence in his ability to lead Marines,” at the direction of   
   Brig. Gen. John Simmons, commanding general of training command,   
   Gibson said. Burch remains in the Marine Corps.   
      
   Islam, a private first class from Weddington, N.C., was at his   
   first day of training at Pendleton’s Marines Awaiting   
   Reconnaissance Training, School of Infantry-West, when he   
   drowned while trying to tread water for 30 minutes after several   
   intense swimming tests.   
      
   Instructors and medics interacted with Islam during the   
   evaluation, but they didn’t realize the danger he was in and   
   instead were focused on urging him to finish, according to the   
   Marine Corps Times, which obtained the nearly 400-page   
   investigation through a Freedom of Information Act request.   
      
   “[Islam] continuously said, ‘I can’t, I can’t,’ and the   
   instructors asked back, ‘do you quit?’” the investigation   
   recounted. “[His] response every time was, ‘I don’t quit.’”   
      
   In a written statement, Simmons called Islam’s death “a tragedy   
   for his family and for the Marine Corps.”   
      
   “We have a responsibility to all Marines and their families to   
   learn from this incident so that Marines can, as safely as   
   possible, conduct the hard, realistic training that enables them   
   to be successful in all their missions,” Simmons said.   
      
   The investigation noted that Islam was ordered out of the pool   
   to rest after 10 minutes, but his oxygen levels averaged 96   
   percent, so instructors allowed him back into the pool after   
   three or four minutes to resume treading water. He still   
   struggled to stay above water, and an instructor pulled him to   
   the side after he submerged a final time.   
      
   “Still conscious, Islam used his final strength to haul himself   
   onto the pool deck, where he passed out,” according to the   
   Marine Corps Times, citing details of the report. Islam never   
   regained consciousness.   
      
   Burch could not be reached for comment.   
      
   Reconnaissance Training Company Executive Officer Capt. Jason   
   Quinn will serve as commanding officer until a new commanding   
   officer arrives this summer, Gibson said.   
      
   Islam’s father, James Islam, of Gainesville, Fla., told the   
   Register on Thursday that he was not aware of the command change   
   and does not blame the military for his son’s death.   
      
   “It is real important to us not to tear down the Marine Corps,”   
   James Islam said. “Rather than find out who did what and run   
   them into the ground, we want to just bring awareness that   
   people are willing to train and to serve, and that’s worthy of   
   the highest honor.”   
      
   Joshua Islam was a state champion baseball pitcher with a steely   
   will to be the best at everything he did, his father said. He   
   had dreamed of joining the military since he was a boy and   
   trained with the Marines most Saturdays during his senior year   
   of high school before enlisting.   
      
   Obviously baseball is not a stamina building sport.  Maybe he   
   was just a spitter.   
      
   http://www.ocregister.com/articles/islam-616312-marine-   
   marines.html   
      
       
      
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