At 1:00 am on June 5, 2021, two US Marines knocked on the door of Stacey Beals, a nurse at a hospital in Pennsville, NJ. did. Sharing some valuable details, they told her that her son, Dalton , had died while training to become a Marine on Parris IslandSouth Carolina View. The four-mile-long facility in Fort County has been used for recruit seasoning since 1915.
When Dalton announced right out of high school that he wanted to be a Marine, Stacy wanted it. he chose college. But she supported him with one stipulation.
"I told him, 'Promise me you won't be in the infantry,'" Stacey, 53, told The Post. "I didn't want him to be on the front lines. That was my concern. I didn't care if something happened to Dalton in the United States.
Now, an official investigation into the death of a 19-year-old boy called for "punishment" against his company commander, series commander, and training instructor. “general or administrative action” is recommended.
These people are still identified by name. not.
Dalton's boyhood friend Zach Manorowitz thought the Marines would be a good fit. "Dalton was a big, strong guy and he was one of the best players of all time. He loved showing that," Manorowitz told The Post. "His friends and I expected him to successfully complete his training."
Instead, the newly published Dalton died of hypothermia, according to a heavily redacted "Command Investigative Report." He died before his temperature was taken, but another recruit recorded his reading, a dangerously high 107 degrees, Stacey said.
Shortly before his death, Dalton wrote to his mother that she was very much looking forward to seeing him in his Marine uniform. She did, but not as expected.
"It was a public coffin funeral with Dalton in uniform," Stacey said. "It was heartbreaking. A sight I will never forget. I miss him. I still can't believe what happened to my son."
40}On the afternoon of June 4, 2021, Dalton was at home. In the middle of Week 11 on Parris Island and the Crucible, the final stretch of basic training before recruits are deemed worthy to join the Marine Corps. According to the Corps website,it is a hardcore 54-hour challenge that tests recruits' "physical fitness, skills, and Marine Corps values." Eating and sleeping are limited.
Dalton and other recruits in his platoon took on the Crucible in his 90-degree heat, making the challenge even more grueling. A quote from a former Marine gunnery sergeant says the weather conditions at that temperature are: Clifton McChesney was listed on the official Marine Corps website as "Black Flag". He added:
However, reports indicate that senior drill instructors "unauthorized incentive training.”
Stacey was more outspoken. "Dalton was absent-minded."
Speaking of senior drill instructors, Stacey said: He intended his platoon to be the top platoon. It was an ego trip for him.
Reviewing the contents, Stacey said: Instead, he was in an air-conditioned car while his group was out in the sun.
Dalton's death is a reference to the Battle of the Pugil Sticks, a competition between two platoons wearing what appears to be football helmets and slamming each other with padded sticks. It happened later. At over six feet tall and weighing about 210 muscle pounds, Dalton was a formidable stick-his fighter. Stacey lives up to the nickname "Big Deal Beer" given to him by other members of the platoon. But Dalton suffered more than others as a result.
As she learned from reports and conversations with recruits in Dalton's platoon, ``[the other recruits] saw Dalton stumble. He said he couldn't see the child.He was delirious and hallucinating.He wanted water.You shouldn't go alone.But Everyone was having a hard time, so the buddy system was broken
When Dalton went drinking but didn't return, his platoon mates began looking for him, but then, as Stacie explained, "someone called 'Recruit Down.' ’ I cried.” When the recruit thought it was Dalton and asked the drill instructor how Dalton was doing, Stacey remarked: Don't worry; he didn't know my son's name. he didn't know their names. He called them all "pigs". ''
According to Stacey, the drill instructor was unaware that Dalton was gone.
Sixty minutes later another drill his instructor found Dalton in a wooded area. "It sounded like a hoot," said Stacey. "The person who found Dalton started CPR and called for help. Others arrived quickly. But it was too late. Dalton was gone."
Nursing Especially maddening to the teacher, Stacie, is her belief that steps may have been taken to save her son. "You cool him with an IV," she said. "You lower his core temperature. It couldn't have gone that far. This was just a training exercise. It wasn't a war."
111} Getty ImagesWhen asked about the circumstances of Dalton's death, Marine Corps spokesman Maj. We have been in contact with and will provide information as it becomes available…Currently, [this] case is under investigation by military prosecutors, although we are unable to speculate as to the details of the case at this time in the ongoing investigation.
Although Dalton survivors cannot sue — the 1950 Ferrez Doctrine prevents lawsuits against the federal government for military injuries — Stacy says her son I hope I didn't die in vain. His family has initiated a private autopsy, which she does not discuss before the Marines release their own autopsy results. But she does have some advice for parents of Marine aspirants.
"Unless changes are made, I would not recommend the Marine Corps," Stacey said. "There's a flaw in the system. They said they reconfigured the Crucible so it's a smaller area. And they got a [wearable] monitor to tell them where the recruits are and what the temperature is. But that doesn't matter. The problem is their leader. He was on an ego trip."
report, this leader is a “competent senior. I didn't."
Stacy, Dalton's two sisters, Logan and Jordan, and his father Melvin — Stacy, with whom she had been divorced for five years — attended the graduation ceremony of Dalton's platoon. attended. "This is 10 days after Dalton died," Stacey said. "Graduation was hard. Everyone around us was very happy. But it was important to me to see the Dalton barracks and meet the people I spent time with."
A memorial service was held for his platoon's family and recruits.
"It was special," Stacey recalls. "They all had a chance to say something about Dalton. He was highly regarded."
She also spoke with a senior drill instructor who lost his son. "I met him without knowing what I know now," she said. “He was a nice guy and I felt a little sorry for him. I thought he felt guilty, but I didn’t know why. I thought Dalton's bunk was right outside the window and he said he could see him when he looked out, in fact he didn't even know who my son was
Stacey said her feelings for the instructor had changed dramatically as she waited for news of whether the Marines would bring him to trial. rice field.
"Now I feel he shouldn't be a Marine," she said."At the very least, he should be dishonorably discharged and at most thrown on the brink for years."