An airman has died after falling while rappelling from the rafters at a college football game in Texas.
The service member died at a hospital following a rappelling demonstration ahead of the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Salute to Armed Forces & Veterans game, a spokesperson for Nellis Air Force Base Public Affairs told CBS 8.
The airman’s name has not been released.
“We are deeply saddened by the incident that occurred at the start of tonight’s football game. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the soldier who was affected, his family and his military colleagues,” a UT San Antonio spokesperson wrote in an Instagram post Saturday evening.
The rappelling team consisted of members of the 6th Combat Training Squadron, Detachment 2, Task & Purpose reported. The unit trains air traffic controllers.
Social media videos show the airman appearing to lose control as he descended his rope. The football game proceeded ten minutes after he was transported to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries.
“Thanks @PeteHegseth @SecWar for yet another pointless and tragic recruiting spectacle,” Jackie Singh, an aide on President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, wrote on X.
Rappelling demonstrations are an annual feature of the game. The spectacle comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has emphasized a renewed “warrior ethos” within the U.S. military, which often translates to flashy spectacles. In the lead-up to the game, UTSA implored attendees to arrive early for a “Rowdy Town Live,” with “swag, food, music and lots of UTSA spirit.” A teaser clip of an airman rappelling was also shared on social media.
Dem strategist Chris D. Jackson called the stunt “absolutely sickening.”
“This ridiculous military showboating at football games needs to STOP,” he wrote on X.
“Now a man could lose his life, all because some Hegseth-like official apparently thought putting on a macho spectacle for people who came to watch FOOTBALL was a brilliant idea. These men are human beings, NOT props for someone’s political theater.”
A spokesperson for the Defense Department did not immediately respond to questions from the Daily Beast.
Hegseth, for his part, spent Saturday at a different sports stadium, attending a football game between the University of Tennessee and the University of Alabama.
Prior to that, he administered the oath of enlistment to young men and women representing all service branches and the Tennessee National Guard. As he did so, he told them:
“We’ve had three core principles from the beginning of showing up at the War Department: restore the warrior ethos, rebuild the military, reestablish deterrence.”
