A Navy SEAL Captain is arguing drugs were the cause of a recruit’s death, after he was one of the people found responsible.
Kyle Mullen, 24, of New Jersey, was a former football player for Yale University who died of pneumonia in Coronado, California, and was one of four recruits who were hospitalized during the training session, according to CBS.
Following Mullen’s death, an investigation led to 10 individuals being identified as responsible for the training that caused the hospitalization of recruits, including Captain Brad Geary, who was removed from command and is facing an inquiry that could remove him from the navy according to his lawyer, as reported by Military.com.
Geary has speculated that Mullen’s death could have been linked to performance-enhancing drugs reportedly found in his car in an interview with podcaster Shawn Ryan on August 5, and reiterated these statements in an interview with Military.com published on August 30.
It was not confirmed that Mullen used the performance-enhancing drugs when he died, according to Military.com, and Navy reports state that he died of pneumonia.
Navy SEALs partake in BUD/S training session known as “surf immersion” at the Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Center in Coronado, California on May 4, 2020. During the BUD/S training, a Navy SEAL recruit Kyle Mullens died of pneumonia in February 2022.
MC1 Anthony Walker/Associated Press
Mullen died after completing a SEAL Basic Underwater Demolition/SEA (BUD/S) selection program, also known as “Hell Week” in February 2022. It is a five-and-a-half day training session that is “cold, wet, brutally difficult operational training on fewer than four hours of sleep,” according to the website, Newsweek previously reported.
It adds that the program focuses on keeping trainees in constant motion, consisting of “running, swimming, paddling, carrying boats on their heads, doing log PT, sit-ups, push-ups, rolling in the sand, slogging through mud, paddling boats and doing surf passage.”
On average, 25 percent of candidates pass hell week, as it is one of the toughest training sessions in the U.S. military.
Regarding the training program, Geary told Military.com, “We have refined the idea of what it means to be a warfighter and we’ve been very, very successful,” but noted that the SEALS have made mistakes.
When discussing Mullen’s death on the Shawn Ryan Show in a nearly six-hour interview, Geary said he they would have “stopped hell week immediately” if they had discovered performance-enhancing drugs, and stated that he believed Mullen would still be alive today.
He continued, “Every other causal line they’ve tried to draw between my leadership, my cadre, our medical professionals, is all speculative in nature and built of flimsy and even false evidence.”
In response to Geary’s claims on the Shawn Ryan Show, Regina Mullen, Kyle’s mother, told Asbury Park Press, “I’m sickened that he’s trying to blame my son’s character. Two autopsies, mine and the Navy’s, concluded it was untreated pneumonia. It had nothing to do with steroids.”
Others who faced disciplinary action following the investigation included Commander Erik Ramey and Captain Brian Drechsler according to Military.com.
Newsweek reached out to the Navy, Geary, and Regina Mullen for comment via email.
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