Safety measures were taken
after obstacle course deaths
By
Jan Wesner Childs
Okinawa bureau
CAMP
FOSTER, Okinawa — Lance Cpl. Patrick Alimbuyao was not
the last Marine to die on a water obstacle at the northern
training area on Okinawa.
Lance
Cpl. Andre Foster died in a similar accident two years ago.
Alimbuyao,
24, fell and drowned March 21, 1992, while pulling himself
across a single rope stretched across a river on the obstacle
course at the training area.
The
effect of his death on his platoon leader is the subject of
the short film Game Day.
Foster,
22, died April 9, 1999, when he fell into the same river from
a similar obstacle 100 yards upstream.
Capt.
Tanya Murnock, a spokeswoman for Marine Corps bases on Okinawa,
said several safety measures were taken at the obstacles after
the two deaths.
Murnock
said a safety net was installed under the rope from which
Alimbuyao fell. Marines on both obstacles are now locked on
to safety lines, and instructors closely monitor the water
levels.
"If
the water is above a certain point on a depth marker, as read
by course instructors each day the course is run, the obstacle
is not negotiated that day," she said.
Both
obstacles also have been rebuilt, and instead of ropes they
now use 7/8-inch steel cable.
Murnock
said 5,000 Marines negotiate the obstacle course each year.
Alimbuyao and Foster are the only ones to have died in the
past 10 years.
RELATED
STORY:
Film tells
story of Marine who died on Okinawa obstacle course
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