Training fatallities suck for sure. I was attatched to the Third Marine Division, MP Co., on Okinawa, in 1970, after the Corps., pulled us, "the Third Marine Division", out of Nam, and sent us all to Oki. C.I.D. came to me one day and said they needed a NCO, me, to go out to the mortar range. The Corps. was in the process of pulling out of Viet Nam completely, but had not yet ended, sending troops to FMF WEST PAC, so troops were piling up in Okinawa, to be reasigned all over the place. The troops needed something to do, so they were practicing being Marines. To that end, the mortar range was pretty active, with training. One of these troops, got a round lodged in a mortar tube. A boot 2nd Lt. was in charge, along with a Gunnery Sgt.. As you would expect, the Gunny took charge of dislodging the stuck round. The Lt., reported to me, that the Gunny had been banging the tube on the ground, in a attempt to free the round, which was correct procedure, but when the round dislodged, the gunny's face/head, was partially in the way of the tube. The round took off about half of the Gunny's head. When I got there, the Marines were standing in formation, at attention. The 2nd Lt. was also at attention, covered with brain matter, on his field jacket and snivelling. The Gunny, sadly was dead. It was my responsibillity to document what I could and to recover as much of the Gunny as I could. To this day I can't get the picture of a piece of his skull, on the edge of a cliff, rocking a bit, in the high breeze, on the edge of the cliff, or the shocked look, on what was left of his face. I got the Gunny into my jeep and headed for sick bay, where I had to go through his persoal belongings/wallet. In the wallet was a picture of his wife and three beautul children. He was of retirement age, or very close to it. Such a needless death. I never had the honor of meeting the Gunny, but he'll be with me and not forgotten for the rest of my life. The tragedy and loss, in this thread, brings the Gunny, back to my thoughts. A Corpsman and seven Marines lost. The pain that this loss will bring so many people, saddnes me greatly. R.I.P. Brothers.