Heartbreaking Loss: 21-Year-Old Marine Dies in Training Accident, Family Honors Their 'True Soldier'

A YOUNG Marine has tragically died in a horrific smash during a training exercise on a military base.

Private First Class Tanner Rubio died at Camp Pendleton in California on Wednesday.

Tanner Rubio had only joined the Marine Corps at the beginning of the yearCredit: Facebook He had been home for Thanksgiving just before his deathCredit: USMC

The heartbreaking death of the 21-year-old was confirmed in a statement from the 1st Marine Division.

Tanner, from Dixon, California, had only just started his military career.

Ready and eager to serve his country, he joined the Marine Corps with his best friend at the beginning of the year, and was trained as an infantry rifleman.

The young Marine had been home with his family to celebrate Thanksgiving just weeks ago.

Tanner’s father, Mark Rubio, spoke to CBS , saying he could never have imagined the tragedy that was to come.

“It’s tragic that things happened in accidents,” he said.

“We don’t know what happened.”

Tanner’s sudden death has left his family reeling, Mark said, recalling the moments he received the harrowing news.

“The Marines sat us down and told us there had been an accident,” he said.

“It’s just tragic to hear those words and the emotions just rip through you, you can’t stop it.”

The investigation into Tanner’s death is ongoing, so very few details have been released.

The division has noted, however, that the accident happened during training unrelated to Exercise Steel Knight 25 – the largest long-raid exercise in 14 years.

The training module involved more than 600 Marines at bases in Arizona and Southern California.

Major General Thomas Savage said Tanner would be “sorely missed” in a heartbreaking public statement.

“The tragic loss of [Tanner] is one felt across the 1st Marine Division,” he said.

“He will be sorely missed, but his honorable service to his country will not be forgotten.

He had joined the Marines with his best friendCredit: Facebook Tanner and his father, Mark RubioCredit: Facebook

“All of us at the Blue Diamond will keep him and his family in our thoughts and prayers,” he added.

Despite their horrific loss, Tanner’s family said they were thankful for both the community support, and condolences being sent in from across the US.

“Tanner is in heaven now, and we’re so grateful that the nation mourns with us, our community mourns with us,” his uncle told CBS.

“Tanner is a true soldier.

“[He] became more of a man at 21 than most men are at 50,” he added.

Several Marine recruits have died in training exercises over the past few years.

In 2023, 21-year-old Pfc Noah Evans died at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island, South Carolina, according to Marine Times , where in 2021, three other Marines died – Pfc Dalton Beals, Pfc Anthony Munoz and Brandon Barnish, 26.

Beals died while undertaking a gruelling 54-hour “Crucible” training exercise.

The Crucible exercise is a series of challenges that test recruits “physical strength, skills and the Marine Corps values that they have learned throughout training” according to the Marines website.

Throughout the exercise, recruits are “only allowed a limited amount of food and sleep“.

Beals’ drill instructor, Staff Sergeant Steven Smiley, was later charged with negligent homicide, following allegations that he pushed the recruits too hard.

Munoz died after falling from a balcony, however circumstances around his death remain unclear.

Barnish died during a physical fitness test.