Marines fire an M240B machine gun at Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California, Sept. 12, 2023. Four service members received awards for aiding a severely injured Marine during live-fire training at Twentynine Palms in July 2024, the service said. (Aidan Hekker/Marine Corps)
An investigation is ongoing into a nearly fatal training accident at a Marine Corps base in California, service officials said.
The Marine was injured on a live-fire range during the Service Level Training Exercise at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms on July 26, according to a Marine statement.
The 2nd Marine Division offered few details of the accident, citing the ongoing investigation. But it did acknowledge the efforts of four service members who helped save the life of the injured Marine.
Cpl. Cullen Potter joined three Navy corpsmen, Petty Officer 3rd Class Carlos Calvillo, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Wegner and Petty Officer 1st Class Efrain Barrera, in the emergency response.
The four service members with 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, were all awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, a Marine Corps statement said.
A Marine and three sailors with 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, stand by to be awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal at Twentynine Palms, Calif., Aug. 11, 2024. The service members aided a severely injured Marine during an exercise in July 2024, Marine officials said. (Weston Lindstrom/Marine Corps)
“Cpl. Potter was one of the first to respond to the incident,” division spokesperson 2nd Lt. Reagan Johnson said in an email Thursday. “He immediately applied pressure to the wound, provided first aid, and assessed the casualty as he called for corpsmen.”
The corpsmen provided lifesaving care and helped transport the patient, who hasn’t been named, to a landing zone before he was airlifted to a nearby trauma center.
“The injured Marine was released from the hospital to be with his family and is expected to make a full recovery,” Johnson said.
The Service Level Training Exercise is designed to increase Marines’ effectiveness in simulated combat scenarios and is scheduled to conclude Aug. 23.
