Lee Mirecki was a 19-year-old United States Navy sailor from Appleton, Wisconsin, who was killed by drowning during a "sharks and daisies" military rescue training exercise on March 2, 1988.
Mirecki completed boot camp from Orlando Florida company C246, but the events that led to his death began before his entry into SAR school when basic swimming tests showed his fear of water, which had been present since childhood.
[citation needed] As part of the ARSS program, which is held in Pensacola, recruits must successfully complete a drill known as sharks and daisies.
[2] There are questions to how he was allowed to return,[4] but some believe RSS instructors may have reminded Mirecki that his DOR request would cost him his technical skill training and send him to the naval fleet as an undesignated seaman assigned to the ship's deck force.
[citation needed] At the time of his death, Mirecki was training to become an Aviation Anti-Submarine Warfare Operator (AW) Rescue Swimmer, despite a childhood fear of being under water.
[4] ARSS was temporarily closed following Mirecki's death to allow for changes in training method, including the elimination of the sharks and daisies routine.