# SEAL William "Blake" Marston



## BloodStripe (Jan 12, 2015)

http://www.nh1.com/news/breaking-nh-navy-seal-dies-during-military-parachute-training/

Killed during a MFF training jump.

Rest in peace.


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## CDG (Jan 12, 2015)

RIP.

Really sucks to lose guys in training accidents.


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## Grunt (Jan 12, 2015)

I absolutely hate training deaths.

Rest In Peace, Warrior!


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## RackMaster (Jan 12, 2015)

RIP.


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## AKkeith (Jan 12, 2015)

Rest In Peace Brother.


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## DA SWO (Jan 12, 2015)

Damn, I hate training accidents.
Fair winds and following seas.


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## Dame (Jan 12, 2015)

Just horrible news.
Rest in peace.


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## Ooh-Rah (Jan 12, 2015)

Thoughts and prayers with his family and friends


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## racing_kitty (Jan 12, 2015)

Fair winds and following seas, PO Marston.  

Losing a man in training is the worst.


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## Red Flag 1 (Jan 12, 2015)

Rest In God's Own Peace, SEAL.


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## Ex3 (Jan 12, 2015)

My prayers are with his family and friends.


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## Scubadew (Jan 12, 2015)

Fair winds and following seas.


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## x SF med (Jan 13, 2015)

This should remind people that the job is dangerous, even just staying prepared is dangerous.   RIP, PO Marston.


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## 21C (Jan 13, 2015)

RIP , mate.
Always sucks to hear about losing a warrior, even more so in training.


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## HALO99 (Jan 13, 2015)

Rest in Peace.


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## CDG (Jan 13, 2015)

Witness reported seeing something come off the chute at 40-60 feet above the ground.  It sounds like he died from impact: http://www.wcvb.com/news/us-navy-seal-from-new-hampshire-dies-in-training-exercise/30656870 

Again, RIP PO Marston.


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## Ex3 (Jan 13, 2015)

CDG said:


> Witness reported seeing something come off the chute at 40-60 feet above the ground.  It sounds like he died from impact: http://www.wcvb.com/news/us-navy-seal-from-new-hampshire-dies-in-training-exercise/30656870


It sound almost exactly like my ex's accident. :'(


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## policemedic (Jan 13, 2015)

RIP, Warrior.


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## AWP (Jan 14, 2015)

> A witness told DeLand police investigators that something flew off the man's parachute as he was in free fall between 40 to 60 feet above ground


 
And this is why A) witnesses are unreliable and B) reporters are vermin.

Hop-n-pop from a PAC 750 around 8AM. We probably won't know more detail until the accident investigation is released.

Blue Skies.


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## pardus (Jan 14, 2015)

That really sucks.
Condolences to those left behind.


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## Blizzard (Jan 14, 2015)

Godspeed.


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## SkrewzLoose (Jan 14, 2015)

Fair winds and following seas, Warrior.


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## AWP (Feb 5, 2016)

The Navy's report is out and summarized in the article below.

Virginia Beach-based SEAL who died in accident was unconscious, never opened parachute



> Why Petty Officer 1st Class William Blake Marston blacked out remains a mystery that Navy investigators said they couldn’t solve. Marston’s parachute and equipment were in good working condition.



The earlier bit about something coming off of his parachute, was probably his reserve freebag.



> Marston wore an automatically activated reserve parachute that opened at 750 feet. But investigators believe that chute’s canopy was fully open for only one to two seconds before impact.



BSBD.


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## DA SWO (Feb 5, 2016)

Freefalling said:


> The Navy's report is out and summarized in the article below.
> 
> Virginia Beach-based SEAL who died in accident was unconscious, never opened parachute
> 
> ...


Is 750 feet too low for the reserve?


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## AWP (Feb 5, 2016)

DA SWO said:


> Is 750 feet too low for the reserve?



Yes and no. An AAD (I'd guess he wore a CYPRES but I don't know) fires when it senses certain parameters, rate of descent and altitude. Newer AAD's allow you to adjust the opening altitude/ firing of the AAD with the base as 750' (to my knowledge 750's been the standard for about ever) because some reserves haven't opened in time.

AAD Activation Altitude | Parachutist Online

Concerning the rate of descent, a jumper falling stable, belly-to-earth is around 110-120 mph. A freeflyer (basically anyone not belly-to-earth) is clocking in around 150-160 mph. Someone unconscious can/ usually falls erratically and with a higher rate of descent than a controlled freefall.

Not knowing the precise details of PO1 Marston's jump, if he were totally unconscious or unstable his rate-of-descent would be in excess 120 mph which will decrease his reserve's "working time." 750' is usually enough but we've seen that isn't always the case. The article states his canopy was fully inflated, but that doesn't translate into a slow vertical rate of descent. Square canopies have to transition from a vertical opening to "flight" when they move more horizontally. A fully inflated canopy will "shake itself out" in 20-50 feet. Even at full flight a downwind landing can be rough, but I don't know his landing attitude, direction, wind speed, etc. The point there is an open canopy can still injure you depending on the circumstances and variables.

120 mph is 1.467 mph or 176 feet per second. Activating at 120mph @ 750' gives one 4.261 seconds at terminal; of course you start decelerating once the reserve fires. 150 mph is 220 fps or 3.41 seconds at terminal. If you look up "AAD fire" or something similar on Youtube, you'll see all sorts of videos with anything from 4-5 seconds of canopy time to 2-3 seconds. Canopy activations aren't the same from rig to rig, terminal velocity plays a role as well, but that higher velocity also translates into less time for the opening to work. There are a bunch of variables that go into how fast a canopy will open.


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## Ocourse (Mar 5, 2016)

Very sorry to hear.


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