AP Features, June 13th, 2007
The Army's sprawling training ground here has plenty of challenges _ craggy hills, dense brush, high grass, scratchy juniper trees and temperatures in the 90s. But military officials didn't consider water to be high on the list.
Creeks and other sources give a soldier plenty of chances to fill up. So why did Sgt. Lawrence G. Sprader, who set out on a three-hour exercise with two canteens, a water backpack and food, end up dying of hyperthermia and dehydration?
The Army was left with that tragic mystery a day after it solved another when it found Sprader's body, ending a four-day search that thousands took part in.
The brief report of the autopsy, conducted at the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences at Dallas, was released Wednesday by a Bell County justice of the peace. It did not provide further details.
Eddy Howton, Fort Hood's director of emergency services, said he didn't know if Sprader, 25, still had his issued supplies when he was found, but Robert Volk, the post's chief game warden, said there was plenty of water nearby.
Howton said he did not know if searchers found anything that would indicate how long Sprader had been dead.
Commanders said that when they reached Sprader on his phone late Friday _ the last time anyone spoke to him _ he was determined to finish the exercise and did not indicate he was ill or distressed. The Iraq war veteran had completed two previous land-mapping exercises.
"He was a model soldier. He had a goal to succeed," said Lt. Col. Carter Oates, commander of the 11th MP Battalion, Criminal Investigations Division, where Sprader was assigned.
Officials do not suspect foul play, Oates said.
About 3,000 people, including soldiers, covered more than 30 square miles searching for Sprader.
He was one of nearly 320 noncommissioned officers taking part in a two-week leadership course. Nine other soldiers got lost during the three-hour exercise, but all except Sprader got back to the rally point safely by following the sound of a siren that blasts when time is up, said Col. Diane Battaglia, a III Corps spokeswoman at Fort Hood.
Post officials said no other soldier has ever been lost on the heavily used range long enough to prompt such a massive search. They said Wednesday it was the first time the exercise Sprader was on had ended in a death.
"Generally the individuals are located within 30-40 minutes," said Robert Volk, Fort Hood's chief game warden.
Sprader had returned from an Iraq deployment in September and worked in the criminal investigation division of Fort Hood. The Prince George, Va., soldier had no orders for redeployment to the war zone.
"We are deeply saddened for his family," Howton said. "We hate the suffering they've gone through for the last five days."
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Associated Press Writer Jeff Carlton in Dallas contributed to this report.
