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Originally posted by OttoSig:
… they finally gave us a zipper!

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A Navy sailor in boot camp at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill., died Wednesday, the Lake County Coroner’s Office announced Friday.

Kayshawn Wilkerson, 18, died by an apparent suicide at a firing range, according to the preliminary autopsy report. It’s not clear from the release whether the firing range was on Naval Station Great Lakes, but local outlets reported the death happened on base.

Both the Naval Station Great Lakes fire and police departments responded, according to the release.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Lake County Coroner’s Office are investigating Wilkerson’s death.

Wilkerson was in boot camp at the time of his death, according to his official Navy biography. He enlisted on June 23.

The Navy confirmed Wilkerson’s death in a statement to USNI News.

“The Navy is providing full support to the family, friends, and shipmates affected by this tragic loss,” reads the statement. “An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident is underway. Out of respect for the family and to preserve the integrity of the investigative process, no further details will be released at this time.”

This is the fourth sailor to die by suicide while stationed at Great Lakes in the past few months.

Four sailors assigned to Great Lakes died between April 18 and May 14, USNI News previously reported. Three of the sailors died by suicide.

Chief Gunner’s Mate Daniel Dlask, who died on April 18, and Machinist’s Mate First Class Jacob Lavold, who died on May 14, both died by suicide, USNI News previously reported. Chief Damage Controlman Reba Miller died from complications of chronic ethanolism, also known as alcohol use disorder, with hypertensive cardiovascular disease as a contributing factor, Steve Newton, chief deputy with the coroner’s office, told USNI News.

Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Makaio Bartley, 28, died on May 4 from a car crash. While the Navy told USNI News that it was not a suicide, the coroner’s office determined Bartley’s manner of death was suicide, Newton said.

Naval Education and Training Command directed an investigation into the deaths of Dlask, Lavold and Miller. USNI News understands Bartley’s death was not part of the investigation as of May 16. Rear Adm. Robert Nowakowski, the deputy commander for force development, will lead the investigation.

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Originally posted by SpinZone:
They were just opening the new live fire training facility right before I left. My last division was my only one that used it. All my other divisions only used the simulator. They had closed the old live fire range before I got there due to lead contamination.

I can’t begin to make a guess how they do it now. When they first opened it there were all sorts of controls. I had to drop off my division and leave the range. No ammo was broken out untill all the RDCs were off site. It was the only training event throughout boot camp that we could not attend.

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Originally posted by 92fstech:

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Originally posted by SpinZone:
They were just opening the new live fire training facility right before I left. My last division was my only one that used it. All my other divisions only used the simulator. They had closed the old live fire range before I got there due to lead contamination.

I can’t begin to make a guess how they do it now. When they first opened it there were all sorts of controls. I had to drop off my division and leave the range. No ammo was broken out untill all the RDCs were off site. It was the only training event throughout boot camp that we could not attend.

Were they worried that the recruits were going to shoot the RDCs?

So when there was no live-fire facility available, were they training and qualifying people using only a simulator? Or did that happen later on somewhere else?

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Originally posted by SpinZone:
The investigation revealed that there was so much lead contamination that the staff was bringing home on their boots and uniforms.