SSgt. Kenneth J. Wilburn, a 30-year-old combat controller apprentice, died Jan. 12, three days after he lost consciousness during a water treading exercise Jan. 9 at a training pool at Lackland AFB, Tex. According to a Jan. 13 statement, Wilburn did not respond to emergency life-saving efforts on the scene and never regained consciousness at Wilford Hall Medical Center. He was assigned to the 342nd Training Squadron at Lackland. According to an Associated Press report (via the Houston Chronicle), base spokesman Oscar Balladares said officials did not know whether Wilburn drowned or some other factor caused him to lose consciousness. According to AP, Wilburn, from Union, S.C., was cross-training into the combat controller career field and previously had been assigned to the 820th Security Forces Group at Moody AFB, Ga. Air Force officials will investigate his death.
Today, the Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies will host a Nuclear Deterrence Forum featuring Brad Roberts, director of the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Event video will tentatively be posted to the think tank’s website and YouTube page afterward.