LOCAL

Naples Marine died during live fire training exercise

Shelby Reynolds
shelby.reynolds@naplesnews.com; 239-263-4829
A portrait of Marine Austin Ruiz sits in a cabinet in his parents' dining room Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, in Golden Gate Estates. Ruiz was killed Friday, Jan. 13, 2017, during a Marine training exercise in Twentynine Palms, Calif.

A Naples Marine killed in a training exercise had been at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in California for about 1½ weeks when the fatal incident occurred, his mother said Tuesday.

The Marine Corps released few additional details Tuesday about the death of 19-year-old Austin Ruiz, killed during a live fire training exercise at the military base in Twentynine Palms, California, on Friday.

Former Naples man dies in Marine training accident

Nell Ruiz confirmed the death of his son. The base, "with heavy hearts," announced the death in a Facebook post Saturday but did not identify Austin Ruiz and noted that another unidentified Marine was injured in the incident.

"We send our prayers and condolences to the families of the Marines killed and injured," Brig. Gen. William F. Mullen III, commanding general of the Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command, said in the post. "Our first priority is to support them during this difficult time."

Austin Ruiz landed in California on Jan. 4 to join the base, Sheara Ruiz, his mother, said in an interview at her Golden Gate Estates home. Twentynine Palms is in the Mojave Desert of Southern California's San Bernardino County, about 150 miles east of Los Angeles.

The Marines were conducting unit training in preparation for the start of Integrated Training Exercise 2-17. The exercise, typically knows as ITX, is a 29-day training regimen that focuses on "combined-arms maneuver warfare during global contingency operations," according to an email statement Tuesday from base spokeswoman Cpl. Medina Ayala-Lo.

The exercise is "kinetic in nature," Ayala-Lo said, and includes live fire training to test the Marines' "offensive, defensive and stability operations."

Ayala-Lo offered no more details about the incident, which is under investigation, according to the base's Facebook post. The San Bernandino Sheriff's Office is not involved in the investigation, spokeswoman Cindy Bachman confirmed Tuesday.

Nell Ruiz, father of fallen Marine Austin Ruiz, looks through a shoebox filled with old letters his son had sent home during his training in the Marines. Austin Ruiz was killed Friday, Jan. 13, 2017, during a Marine training exercise in Twentynine Palms, California.

The Ruiz family also doesn't know more about the training or Austin's death. They do know that the live fire involved small arms, Nell Ruiz said, and that it might "get them ready for the noise of the close-quartered" combat.

The family hopes to bring Austin Ruiz's remains home to Naples and to hold a service for him here.

Austin told his family he was excited about the training during a call home Thursday night and in a text message to his mother before the exercise Friday.

Austin Ruiz in the 2014 Naples High School yearbook.

His family said they are aware that Marines complete this training before an upcoming deployment. After completing the training, Austin was supposed to deploy to Japan, Nell Ruiz said.

Austin Ruiz had just visited Tokyo in December during a mandated pre-deployment training, his mother said. He posted pictures from the trip with his new fiancée on his Facebook page. They were engaged Christmas Eve, according to a Facebook post.

"Christmas this year was perfect," one post read. "i (sic) couldn't have asked for more."

The Ruiz family has received an outpouring of support from family and friends who knew the Marine, who attended Naples High School. In 2015, his junior year, Austin earned his GED before joining the Marines and completing basic training in December 2015 at Parris Island, South Carolina.

Family described Austin as someone who loved life and touched everyone around him.

"He didn't live long, but he lived hard," Sheara Ruiz said.