Marine drill instructor found dead at Parris Island, the second in two months
.png "U.S. Marines with Hotel Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion, hike under the ‘We Make Marines” sign on Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., May 8, 2025.")
Another drill instructor assigned to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island has died, the latest in a spate of deaths involving the high-profile Marines who train recruits.
Two drill instructors have now died in last two months. That follows the deaths of three drill instructors in 2023 at the 8,000-acre training base where up to 20,000 recruits are trained each year.
On Friday, Sgt. Darilyn C. Duong, 25, a Nebraska native, was found dead at a residence in Port Royal, the Marines said Saturday.
No additional details will be released at this time, the Marines said, as the cause of death is under investigation.
“The Marine Corps extends its deepest condolences to the family, friends, and fellow Marines affected by this loss,” the Marines said in a statement.
Duong is from Winnebago, Nebraska, and earned the National Defense Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon (twice), Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal (twice) and Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
She was single with no dependents.
Duong was the second drill instructor assigned to Parris Island to die in the last two months.
In June, Sgt. Albert Haynes II, a drill instructor with Lima Company, was found dead in a hotel room in Starke, Florida.
The cause of death was not released. At the time of the incident, Haynes was on temporary assignment conducting a poolee function event with Recruiting Station Jacksonville.
A poolee function is a training to prepare future Marines for the physical and mental rigors of recruit training.
The job of drill instructors is to turn civilians into basic Marines by teaching them Marine Corps history, drill movements, physical conditioning and martial arts, according to MCRD Parris Island.
Drill instructors wake up as early as 3:45 a.m. and often stay with the recruits until they are asleep, rotating shifts and working 15-plus hour days.
The problem of suicides among Marine drill instructors has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, but the Marines have not said the recent deaths are related to mental health.
In 2023, the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet reported the deaths of three drill instructors in less than three months.
The Washington Post, citing military casualty reports, reported in 2025 there have been at least seven suicides in the past five years involving Marine Corps drill instructors, including the three at Parris Island in 2023.
Including the recent deaths, The Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet has reported at least 11 deaths of recruits or Marines at the base since 2021. Marine authorities cite various causes or none at all in those cases, which have not all involved drill instructors.
This story was originally published July 18, 2026 at 2:23 PM.
