Marine Reprimanded in Drowning

SAN DIEGO â€”  The officer in charge of swimming instruction at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot when a drill instructor drowned last year has been given a letter of reprimand and docked $2,000 in pay by the commanding general, the Marines announced Thursday.

Brig. Gen. John Paxton determined that Capt. Vincent Guida was derelict in his supervision of three Marine swimming instructors when Staff Sgt. Andrew Gonzales, a student, drowned Aug. 1.

The three instructors face courts-martial in August.

Although Guida was not present when Gonzales drowned, Paxton concluded that he was “deficient in his leadership.� A punitive letter will be placed in his personnel file and could harm his chances for promotion.

Gonzales, 30, an Iraq war veteran, drowned while taking a course to prepare him for an even more rigorous course to become a swim instructor.

Staff Sgts. Fernando Galvan and David Roughan face charges of involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide and dereliction of duty.

The maximum penalty could be 13 years in prison.

Staff Sgt. Duane Dishon is accused of dereliction of duty and faces a maximum of one year in custody.

After the military equivalent of a preliminary hearing for Galvan and Roughan, a hearing officer recommended that charges be dropped. But Paxton disagreed and ordered courts-martial.

Guida, who was removed as the instruction company commander after the drowning, was given nonjudicial punishment. It involves a meeting with the Marine’s commanding officer, in which the accusations are explained and punishment imposed.

A hearing officer had recommended that Guida be allowed such a proceeding.

Paxton delayed docking Guida’s pay for six months to give him time to prepare financially.

Paxton leaves in a month to become commanding general of the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton. Guida remains at the recruit depot in an administrative job.