Prospective Special Forces candidate died from snake bites

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Special Forces
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RELEASE NUMBER: 080917-01
DATE POSTED: SEPTEMBER 17, 2008

PRESS RELEASE: Prospective Special Forces candidate died from snake bites


FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, Sept. 17, 2008) — An autopsy revealed that a Special Forces trainee died of multiple bites from a water moccasin June 9 during field training.

Pfc. Norman M. Murburg was conducting the individual land navigation exercise in Hoffman training area, near Camp Mackall, as a part of the Special Forces Assessment and Selection process conducted by the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.

The autopsy, conducted by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C., rules out heat or dehydration in circumstances of Murburg’s death.

“Pfc. Murburg’s death reinforces the dangerous nature of the training that our Soldiers undertake to prepare themselves for the rigors of Special Forces,” said Maj. Gen. Thomas Csrnko, USAJFKSWCS commander.* “We go out of our way to stress safety in all that we do, but there are some circumstances that are out of our control.”

Army representatives met with the Marburg family recently to explain the results of the autopsy.

“No matter the cause of Pfc. Murburg’s death, he volunteered to live his life as a warrior and will always be regarded as such in the Special Forces community,” Csrnko said.

A search for Murburg began at the conclusion of the exercise after he was not accounted for.* He reached the first point along the course but failed to check in at the next point or the assembly point at the end of the exercise.

Murburg’s body was found June 10 along with all of his personal equipment, including water and emergency equipment, after an exhaustive search by cadre members and fellow students.

The water moccasin, also known as the cottonmouth, is one of six venomous snakes that inhabit North Carolina.

Link:

http://news.soc.mil/releases/News%20Archive/2008/September/080917-01.html


RIP Soldier.
 
Memoirs from Mike Murburg, the father:

Luck is real, he said. It is good but it also is bad and random and inches might separate us from death each day, though we don't realize it.

At first, he wanted to die along with his son. Then he was angry and bitter but he's not any longer. He has learned that he could be swallowed up in his grief or he could fight with everything in him to live and to help others. He hopes there is another side to this life and that when he dies, his son will be there.

"He will be the first soul I seek to find," he said. "No matter what it takes."

He dreams of wrapping his son in a fierce, tight hug. "I love you," he'll whisper. "And I am so proud of you."

RIP PFC Norman M. Murburg, you are missed. :(
 
RIP Bro.

I just read about this in the Army Times. Its in this weeks paper for those of us that can pick it up.. Sounds like it happen down by Bones Creek..:(
 
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