[matthewb0051]

Unfortunately, I've seen this before. Had to investigate a drowning of 2 Soldiers in Hawaii back in 2011 or thereabouts. Four of them had walked into the ocean out to an Island known as Chinaman's hat. Two were non-swimmers. As they were walking back to the Oahu in the water, one person veered off the path and started going under. He ultimately drowned.

That caused one of the non-swimmers to freak out and pull down one of the swimmers, drowning him. A person on a kayak saw the incident and helped out, saving one of the non-swimmers.

Horrible situation compounded afterwards by the command trying to figure out why the Soldiers had not told anyone they were going into the ocean on a Holiday weekend. Imagine living on an island and needing to tell your boss you are getting in the ocean over the weekend. There was even talk about requiring Soldiers to take their fatigue pants to the beach so they could use them as a PFD when swimming.