Cause of death revealed for NJ football star who died during Navy SEAL Hell Week training

The cause of death has been revealed for a former New Jersey football player and Navy SEAL candidate who died during “Hell Week” training in February.

Kyle Mullen, 24, of Manalapan, died of pneumonia while training at Naval Base Coronado in California, his mother says NJ advance media citing an autopsy report from the armed forces medical examiner.

Mullen, who played for Yale University, was unable to stand or walk on his own and in a wheelchair before he died, and coughed up and coughed up a red-tinged liquid that nearly filled a 36 oz. sports drink bottle, the report says. He died on February 4, 2022.

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The former Manalapan High School football player served as a defensive lineman for Yale University, where he served as captain in 2018. He was selected to the All-Ivy League second team for his position l ‘last year.

Rear Admiral HW Howard III, commander of Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, Calif., offered his condolences in a statement to Mullen’s family.

“We are giving whatever support we can to the Mullen family and Kyle’s BUD/S classmates,” Howard said.

Hell Week is a grueling test of the BUD/S class held in the first phase before the Navy invests in operational SEAL training, its website says.

“Hell Week consists of 5 1/2 days of cold, wet and brutally difficult operational training on less than four hours of sleep. Hell Week tests physical endurance, mental toughness, pain and cold tolerance, teamwork, attitude and your ability to perform work under conditions of high physical and mental stress and sleep deprivation Above all, it tests determination and desire.

Only 25% of SEAL candidates complete Hell Week, known as the toughest training in the US military.

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