WEST POINT – A US Military Academy Preparatory School candidate died from injuries he sustained in an accident at a cliff diving location in the Town of Hunter on Saturday, August 31.
West Point officials identified the victim as Benjamin Bochtler, 20, of Bellevue, Nebraska. He died after a portion of a rock broke from a ledge, causing him to fall.
Bochtler entered the prep school in July 2019. He had prior military service, enlisting in the Army in 2016 as an unmanned aircraft systems operator and was deployed to Afghanistan from April 2018 to January 2019 in support of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel.
“Ben was a prior-enlisted combat veteran who set a tremendous example and used his experience in the Army t help his fellow cadet candidates,” said Col. Joshua Higgins, commandant of the United States Preparatory School.
