VMI cadet dies while duck hunting on Chesapeake Bay

A 20-year-old Virginia Military Institute cadet died during the school's holiday break.

Andrew L. Reavis, of Tappahannock, drowned Monday while duck hunting on the Chesapeake Bay, according to a VMI statement.

Reavis was a history major who was scheduled to return to the school in Lexington next week.

VMI reports Reavis was a junior class representative to a school committee responsible for the conduct and training of the "ratline," or new cadets, and planned to join the U.S. Marine Corps as an officer upon graduation.

Reavis leaves behind family in Tappahannock and Houston, Texas. His brother, Kyle Reavis, is a freshman at VMI.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/272762

Since Andrew was an alum of the school my wife teaches at and with the school being a very close knit group, she has been told more information about this tragic incident. Apparently he was hunting alone in the marsh on Piscataway Creek just outside of Tappahannock, not in the Chesapeake Bay as has been reported. He somehow fell and his waders filled with water. I don't know what type of waders he was using or if he had a wader belt on, but it is a sobering reminder that bad things can happen fast.