THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 30, 1995 TAG: 9503300415
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: FORT BENNING, GA. LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
The four U.S. Rangers who died while training in a Florida swamp last month perished because of human error, according to a report released Wednesday.
Their superiors led them into unknown waters that were too deep and too cold during a routine exercise that disintergrated into a nightmare of mistakes, the Army report said.
The report depicted a cascade of bad judgment that placed the trainees in a harrowing, flooded swamp, forcing them to spend hours swimming and slogging through frigid water that first disoriented and then killed them in what was the worst accident in the history of the elite program.
At least nine Ranger instructors, including officers and enlisted men, have been suspended for their role. But despite their serious errors in judgment, Ranger commander Maj. Gen. John Hendrix told reporters the men would not face criminal charges because there was no evidence of ``negligent homicide.''
He would not identify those suspended, but said they face disciplinary actions ranging from counseling to release from duty or command.
The four soldiers died of exposure Feb. 15 after spending four or five hours in chilly, chest-deep water at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
The punishing training is required for membership in the elite Army Ranger unit.
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, Hendrix said.
``The issue here is . . . a breakdown in leadership.
``The basic causes were human judgment errors,'' Hendrix said.
In one case, while being evacuated for medical attention, a soldier on a stretcher crashed 15 feet through trees when a helicopter cable became disconnected. The soldier died of hypothermia, not from the crash, the general said.
Hendrix said instructors failed to monitor the water level in the swamp properly.
The soldiers were in chest-deep water that ranged from 50 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit 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.
The others went into a hazardous area with deep channels and extremely swift currents, the general said. High water forced them to land at an unfamiliar alternate site.
After the two companies built rope bridges to cross the bog, two soldiers began showing signs of hypothermia, and the instructors requested a medical evacuation helicopter.
The helicopter arrived within 13 minutes and took four soldiers out before nightfall. Those soldiers survived.
The helicopter was running low on fuel, however.
Before it could return to the site, the helicopter was delayed for 2 1/2 hours before taking off again because the pilot had failed to request a fuel tanker at a landing field, the report said.
That .
The chopper tried a third time to evacuate soldiers, but pilots couldn't find any because of bad weather and poor visibility.
Instead, two soldiers had to be carried out of the swamp on stretchers by fellow trainees. They were taken to high ground and taken by ambulance to hospitals, where they died.
One of the soldiers disappeared in the swamp as the companies were trying to reach high ground. His body was found the next day.
The four soldiers who died weren't seeking to join the Rangers but wanted to undergo the training to enhance their Army careers. ILLUSTRATION: THE TRAINING
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[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
KEYWORDS: US ARMY INVESTIGATION DEATHS RANGERS by CNB