Podbit · The Shawn Ryan Show
A prehistoric fungal spore living in the Coalinga dust ended multiple SEAL careers via Valley Fever. Mike Ritland lost part of a lung and was medically retired. Frohardt lost significant weight and his eyes sank into his face, but beat it. The SEAL Teams have never gone back to Coalinga.
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At 1:57:40 · chapter starts 1:56:40
Sniper school in Coalinga, Northern California — weeks of living in tents, prone on yard lines — was supposed to follow Frohardt's first deployment. Instead it became another endurance test. The kidney pain returned; after a night in hospital on Vicodin, he was told to take his UKD (Unknown Distance) test or go home. Still pharmacologically relaxed, he had his spotter dial the scope and squeezed the trigger — and earned the top score. Stalking phase followed, but by then he was losing weight rapidly and his eyes were sinking into his skull: Valley Fever, contracted from fungal spores in Coalinga dust. Fellow SEAL Mike Ritland contracted the same disease, lost part of a lung, and was medically retired. The SEAL Teams have never returned to Coalinga for training.
Frohardt and several sniper school classmates contracted Valley Fever from fungal spores in Coalinga dust; Mike Ritland lost part of a lung from it, leading the SEAL Teams to discontinue training there.
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