We continue to follow the aftermath of the 15th MEU/USS Somerset AAV Incident that killed eight US Marines and one US Navy Sailor in July of 2020 off the coast of Southern California. Earlier this month Headquarters Marine Corps published an update the the “Assault Amphibian Training and Readiness Manual” (here is the PDF NAVMC 3500.2D), which is one of the steps designed to correct flaws in training as the Marine Corps attempts to “fix” the issues that led to this horrific tragedy.
Col Walt Yates, USMC (ret) (walt.yates@gmail.com) is a former artillery officer and a graduate of Naval Post-Graduate School in Monterey where he received an advanced degree simulation analysis. His “Post” Naval Post-Graduate Degree career then took him into the world of training systems and evaluations, in this capacity he was involved in the review of the 31st MEU Osprey Crash of 2017 that killed three Marines off of the eastern coast of Australia. Walt’s experience with that investigation prompted him to reach out after the 15th MEU’s AAV incident that killed eight Marines and one Sailor because the recommendations that came out of the 2017 Osprey crash had not been adopted. He joins ALL MARINE RADIO again to evaluate this Training and Readiness Manual update.
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