A string of unwritten rules and a climate of careless oversight led to the Humvee crash in 2013 that killed a woman who was from Eagle River, according to details detailed in an Air Force accident investigation report that was released the week before.
This report offers the first open complete and detailed account by the military of the events that took place at its Idaho base up until the 19 year old Air Force ROTC cadet Mackenzie Wilson’s passing on June 24.
Idaho is currently prosecuting a teenager ROTC student who was at the wheel and was charged with manslaughter. However, after several months of Wilson’s mother asking for answers the question remains unanswered whether the military will institute any disciplinary actions against its own staff or make any adjustments regarding its bases operations, as well as its ROTC programs.
The report doesn’t directly deal with these topics. However, it does provide the reasons the reasons why Wilson had been in the Humvee in the first instance. The Humvee was not in training according to it was suggested by the Air Force’s initial announcement regarding Wilson’s loss of life suggested.
Here’s how the range director, who admitted that the range often let visitors who weren’t trained drive Humvees and explained to investigators the reason he let the trainees take the wheel in the first in the first.
“And the goal isn’t obviously to teach them to operate in the Humvee,” the manager told reporters, based on the transcript of an interview in an updated copy of the letter that the Air Force gave Wilson’s mother the week before. “The purpose is just to provide them with some knowledge, you know? Of -ofthe process of coming out. It’s a moral thing as well, do you know?”
Air Force rules require training, certification , and the right to be licensed to drive Humvees.
Wilson and the other 18 ROTC participants selected for the four-day program in Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. Mountain Home Air Force Base were college students, not military cadets but in a course that prepares them to become officers.
The report states that they were granted no supervision to drive the older Humvees through the Saylor Creek Bombing Range on the final day of the program.
At some point, Wilson and two other students took turns driving an Humvee making donuts. A civilian who was working in a range tower noticed dust being kicked up and shouted to get rid of it. The cadets couldn’t understand him, as evidenced by the transcript of an interview.
A few minutes later drivers lost control over the Humvee on a gravel road in between range buildings. The vehicle flipped over and fell over. The driver was the only one with an airbag on.
A cadet in the back seat was thrown out of the vehicle however he was able call 911. He returned to the Humvee and reported to his operator Wilson was trapped in the Humvee without pulse.
After the incident, Air Force investigators found out that the Humvees the cadets were riding were purchased for use as bombing targets and not approved for use as vehicles. The range’s manager stated that the range manager and other employees frequently utilized the Humvees to assist in range operations.
The Humvees were not maintained according to Air Force standards Maintenance wasn’t recorded. The investigation also revealed it was evident that the wheels on the wrecked Humvee were not properly matched which could have impacted the way it handled, and led to its loss of control.
The Air Force’s top investigator briefed Wilson’s mother Jessica Swan, last week regarding his findings. She wept.
Through a message she wrote that she was deeply grieving and also she claimed that Air Force leadership was “acutely negligent.”
“(Their) lack of ability to come to informed decisions caused Mackenzie his life,”” the writer wrote.
Swan said that if an air force ranger and Air Force leadership had followed any of the violations, “Mackenzie would be alive.”
The name of the range supervisor isn’t mentioned in the report of the Air Force However, he is identified in the transcripts of interviews as a long-time civilian employee who served as the head for safety and security at Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks and Osan Air Base in South Korea. He claimed to have served as an accident investigator in three previous cases.
The person who investigated this case informed the range manager that he was suspected of the offence of misusing the property of the government. A ROTC officer who was in charge of the cadets during that time was informed that he was accused of a breach of duty as per military law.
The Air Force public affairs officer at Mountain Home Air Force Base told me via email that top officials are looking into the investigation to determine the next actions.
“We consider it a top priority to fulfill our obligation to investigate the contributing factors and the events that are outlined in the report to avoid similar disasters to occur in the near future.” master sergeant. Eric Harris wrote.
Air Force officials with the center responsible for the ROTC program have not responded to our request for information on potential impacts this incident could have on the ROTC program.
