
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 30, 1995                   TAG: 9503300083
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FORT BENNING, GA.                                 LENGTH: Medium

ARMY WILL PUNISH 9 FOR TRAINING DEATHS

A helicopter evacuating soldiers from a chilly swamp ran out of fuel and a soldier on a stretcher was dropped 15 feet from a chopper, the Army said Wednesday in announcing it will discipline nine instructors in the deaths of four Army Rangers last month.

The four soldiers died of exposure Feb. 15 after spending up to eight hours in chilly, chest-deep water at Elgin Air Force Base, Fla. The punishing training is required for membership in the elite Army Ranger unit. The four soldiers who died weren't seeking to join the Rangers but wanted to undergo the training to enhance their Army careers.

Army investigators found that the instructors allowed the students to be immersed in cold water for too long and to go into a hazardous and unfamiliar area, said Maj. Gen. John W. Hendrix.

``The issue here is ... a breakdown in leadership. The basic causes were human judgment errors,'' said Hendrix, commander of Fort Benning.

Hendrix said he hasn't decided what action will be taken against the instructors, whom he declined to identify. But punishment could range from counseling or letters of reprimand to removal from duty.

Hendrix said there were no grounds for criminal charges against any of the instructors, all of whom have been suspended.

In one case, a soldier on a stretcher being evacuated for medical attention crashed 15 feet through trees when a helicopter cable became disconnected. Though the soldier died, the general said the cause of death wasn't the fall.

Hendrix said instructors failed to properly monitor the water level in the swamp.

The soldiers were in chest-deep water for four to five hours, far beyond the Army's standard limit of three hours in waist-deep, 55-degree water, he said. Instructors of one of the three Ranger companies in the swamp realized that the water level was unusually high and led their trainees back to camp by road.

by CNB