Military parachuting, both static line and free fall, are inherently dangerous. But there have been rumors of late that military freefall exercises in the Navy have been suffering from safety lapses.

Navy SEAL Dies in Parachute Mishap, 4th Training Death in 14 Months

A Navy SEAL died Sunday after a parachuting incident in Arizona, marking the fourth death related to the elite program in just over a year.


Chief Special Warfare Operator Michael T. Ernst died following a "military freefall training accident" on Feb. 19 in Marana, Arizona, and the death is under investigation, Lt. Cmdr. Kara Handley, a Navy spokeswoman, told Military.com in an email late Wednesday evening.

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Ernst had been in the Navy since 2009 and had been assigned to what the SEALs say is an East Coast special warfare unit for the majority of his service, records provided by the Navy show. Navy Special Warfare typically doesn't provide specific unit assignments of individual sailors.