GOOLSBY-ETHAN

LOST  AT  SEA

On December 10, 2020, just three days into his first deployment, Airman Apprentice Ethan Garrett Goolsby went missing from the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt.  Goolsby, from San Antonio, Texas, joined the Navy in September 2019 and following recruit training at Great Lakes, Illinois, and additional schooling at Pensacola, Florida, was assigned to the carrier in July 2020.  It remains unclear what led Goolsby to disappear.  He was last seen on board the ship shortly after 7:00am after working the night shift.  About 7:30am a lookout spotted what appeared to be a person in the water and a second lookout confirmed his sighting.  The carrier immediately launched three search-and-rescue helicopters and a rigid-hull inflatable boat in response as the ship conducted a ship-wide head count to discover that Goolsby was the only crewmember who could not be accounted for.  The search lasted for 55-hours, covered more than 600 square miles, and included the Coast Guard, six Navy vessels and aircraft.  Unfortunately, Goolsby was not found and he was considered “dead, lost at sea.” 

Goolsby’s father wrote: “He was very proud of the Navy and the service he was providing to our country.  The Navy helped make him into a more self-assured, thoughtful, and diligent young man.  He aspired to one day become a naval officer and we take solace that he died while engaged in the career that he envisioned for his future.”

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)