The U.S. Army Alaska released the identity Saturday of a paratrooper who died at Providence Medical Center Thursday evening, after a training jump earlier that day.
The Army says Sgt. Jose Maria Pasillas, 34, a construction equipment repairer with the 23rd Engineer Company, collapsed at the Malamute Drop Zone on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson at about 3.p.m. Thursday.
U.S. Army Alaska spokesperson John Pennell says there are no indications Pasillas had a hard landing or a malfunctioning parachute.
"Apparently after he had landed and packed up all his gear, he was getting ready to leave the drop zone and he collapsed," Pennell said.
Medics initially treated Pasillas until he was medevaced by an Alaska Air National Guard helicopter to Providence Alaska Medical Center, where he underwent emergency surgery but was pronounced dead just before 8 p.m.
Pasillas was from Fort Worth, Texas and entered the Army in 2001 and attended basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C.
Pasillas came to Alaska in August of 2012 after being stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. and Fort Bragg, N.C.
Army officials say Pasillas had combat deployments to Afghanistan in 2002 and to Iraq in 2004, 2006 and 2009.
Army officials say there is no known connection between the jump and the cause of death. The investigation into how he died is ongoing. Channel 2’s Samantha Angaiak and Kortnie Horazdovsky contributed information to this story.