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Army identifies all 9 soldiers killed in Fort Hood truck accident

Posted at 7:26 AM, Jun 06, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-06 07:26:56-04

Officials at Fort Hood have released the names of all nine soldiers who died when a Light Medium Tactical Vehicle overturned in a flooded low-water crossing on post om Thursday.

  • Staff Sgt. Miguel Angel Colonvazquez
  • Spc. Christine Faith Armstrong
  • Pfc. Brandon Austin Banner
  • Pfc. Zachery Nathaniel Fuller
  • Pvt. Isaac Lee Deleon
  • Pvt. Eddy Rae’Laurin Gates
  • Pvt. Tysheena Lynette James
  • Cadet Mitchell Alexander Winey
  • Spc. Yingming Sun

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.

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 2 1/2-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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