An Air Force service member died Saturday night after falling during a pregame rappelling demonstration at a college football game in San Antonio, Texas. The incident occurred before the game between the University of Texas at San Antonio and the Naval Academy at the Alamodome.
A spokesperson for Nellis Air Force Base confirmed that a service member assigned to the 6th Combat Training Squadron, Detachment 2, died from injuries sustained in the fall. The Air Force did not identify the deceased.
The demonstration was part of UTSA’s annual Salute to Armed Forces & Veterans game. Four military members were to rappel from the rafters of the Alamodome to the ground. According to the San Antonio Express-News, halfway through the descent, one person slid down the rope in “an uncontrolled manner” and hit the ground hard. Football staff rushed to the injured man, and medical personnel provided first aid before the airman was put on a stretcher.
The San Antonio Fire Department told Task & Purpose that it transported a person with a life-threatening injury to a hospital. The Air Force later confirmed the airman had died.
“The incident is under investigation. More information will be released as it becomes available,” the Nellis spokesperson said.
The 6th Combat Training Squadron selects and trains students for the Air Force’s Tactical Air Control Party, or TACP, special operations job at Lackland Air Force in San Antonio. TACPs are airmen trained in both Army ground combat operations and Air Force air control procedures, and they embed with soldiers and Marines to direct and coordinate airstrikes from ground positions. The squadron is based at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, although Detachment 2 operates from Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis.
The incident remains under investigation, and the Air Force said more information will be released as it becomes available.
Sources: DVIDS News · Task & Purpose