9 soldiers die in Flood
Soldiers who died when a rain-swollen creek swept their vehicle into rushing waters were in the right place for their intended training, according to the U.S. Army.
Yet
the tragedy is prompting multiple investigations into the circumstances
of the deaths and how the military may handle risky training conditions
in the future.
The
lead Army agency on safety and occupational health dispatched a team to
Fort Hood on Friday to investigate the circumstances of the Thursday
training exercise on the sprawling Army base.
“In
this case, we see that there can be something learned in the way of
future prevention,” said Michael Negard, spokesman for the Army’s Combat
Readiness Center.
The
center has previously produced reports with recommendations on how
soldiers should approach inclement weather. However, Negard would not
immediately release them and would not elaborate on whether the Army
followed proper protocol when it continued with the training exercise,
which turned deadly after days of heavy rain flooded a creek that Army
officials said is not prone to flooding.
Speaking
Friday in Singapore, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter expressed
condolences to the families of those killed at Fort Hood as well as a
pilot who died Thursday when his Blue Angels fighter jet crashed near
Nashville, Tennessee. He said once investigations into those deaths are
complete the military will take actions designed to prevent such
incidents.
The
Combat Readiness Center’s experts will examine the scene of the Fort
Hood accident, collecting evidence on environmental, human and material
factors and interviewing survivors and others involved with the fatal
training. They will then compile a report and send it to the commanding
unit. After 90 days, the report becomes public record.
The
agency’s investigation may take at least several months. Last November
four soldiers at Fort Hood were killed in a Black Hawk helicopter crash
during a routine training exercise, an incident the agency is still
investigating. It is common for investigations to take between six and
nine months, Negard said.
Fort
Hood spokesman Tyler Broadway said that 12 Fort Hood soldiers were on
Thursday’s convoy training exercise on a dirt road parallel to a paved
road that the base had closed because of the risk of flooding. A rush of
water overturned the 2½-ton Light Medium Tactical Vehicle. Two bodies
were found in the vehicle and three others were found downstream from it
hours later. The last four missing soldiers were found dead downstream
Friday, said Maj. Gen. John Uberti, deputy Fort Hood commander.
Three others pulled from the water were released Friday from Fort Hood’s hospital, Uberti said at a Friday evening briefing.
Broadway said the decision of whether to conduct training in dangerous conditions is left to the commander’s discretion.
The
Army added a policy to its safety training manual in 2013 for providing
water survival training, dictating that commanders identify weak
swimmers and provide water survival techniques. But it wasn’t
immediately clear whether the policy was followed in Thursday’s training
exercise.
Broadway did not respond to questions about whether the soldiers were wearing vests or packs that may have weighed them down.
The
dirt road near Owl Creek was not known to have been overrun with water
before, according to Fort Hood spokesman Chris Haug, who added that the
soldiers “regularly pass through weather conditions like this.”
Personnel
from the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, the lead investigators
of deaths on military installations, are also reviewing the Fort Hood
deaths, although spokesman Christopher Grey said there is no evidence
yet of criminal activity.
“The military is inherently dangerous business and training incidents do happen,” Grey said.
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