Two Marines gone in five days.
Two United States Marines have died in separate on-duty incidents just five days apart — one during routine operations at Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton, and another, a Reconnaissance Marine, killed during a parachute training exercise.
Cpl. Miguel A. Maya, assigned to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Training Squadron 303, died during routine military operations at Camp Pendleton.
Sgt. Colin Arslanbas, a Recon Marine with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, was killed in a parachute mishap during training.
Both incidents remain under investigation, and out of respect for their families and their units, speculation has been limited.
But their deaths are a reminder to the American public of something Marines have always known:
Being a Marine is dangerous — even in training, even in peacetime.
Marines train the way they fight.
They jump out of aircraft.
They fly helicopters at night.
They conduct live-fire training.
They operate heavy vehicles and amphibious platforms.
They push their bodies during physical training in extreme environments around the world.
They do these things not because it is safe, but because war is not safe, and the nation expects Marines to be ready.
Sometimes, that readiness comes at a cost.
When a Marine dies in training, he didn’t die in vain.
He died preparing to defend his country, preparing to protect his fellow Marines, and preparing for the day he might be called into combat.
The Marine Corps is a brotherhood. When one Marine falls, the entire Corps feels it.
Rest easy. We have the watch.
#SemperFidelis #USMC #Marines #HonorTheFallen #MarineBrotherhood #24thMEU #CampPendleton #ReconMarines #resteasymarine
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