Paratrooper who died on Alaska base identified
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (AP) — U.S. Army Alaska has released the identity of a paratrooper who died after collapsing following a training jump.
Officials say in a release Saturday that 34-year-old Sgt. Jose Maria Pasillas of Fort Worth, Texas, was a construction equipment repairer with the 23rd Engineer Company.
Pasillas collapsed on Thursday and underwent emergency surgery for a torn aorta at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage. He was pronounced dead just after 8 p.m.
The Army says there's no indication the soldier had a hard landing or that there was equipment failure during the parachute jump he completed prior to collapsing.
Pasillas entered the Army in 2001. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2002 and then to Iraq in 2004, 2006 and 2009.
An investigation into the circumstances of the death is ongoing.
