Posted on 06/14/2004 10:34:21 AM PDT by quietolong
Fort McCoy Lightning Strike
June 14, 2004
Mandy Grosser
On Sunday Morning, lightning stuck a tent at the army's Fort McCoy, injuring 13 soldiers.
Officials say two soldiers received medical treatment at the tent and the other eleven were taken to the hospital.
Two soldiers remained in serious condition on Sunday night. Officials aren't sure how many soldiers were inside the tent when the lightning stuck. Ironically, more than 2,000 soldiers specializing in medical treatment are stationed at Fort McCoy right now.
Some of them provided a helping hand to the lightning victims.
Ch 18's story
There was a scary situation at Fort McCoy Saturday morning after 13 soldiers were struck by lightning in the tent they were sleeping in. Public Affairs Officer Linda Fouriner says the incident happened around 6:30 in the morning. She is not sure how many soldiers were inside the tent at the time but 13 of them received medical care. Two soldiers were treated at the scene. The other eleven were taken to hospitals. Of those, two are listed in serious condition. No personal information is being released about the soldiers other than that they are members of an army reserve unit. This is not the first time soldiers at Fort McCoy have been struck by lightning. Officials say it happens almost once a year because so many soldiers train there.
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Soldier Training at Fort McCoy
Location: Fort McCoy
Jun 13, 2004
More than 2,000 army reserve soldiers from across the country were at Fort McCoy this weekend. They took part in a field training exercise called Golden Medic to prepare for what they may have to deal with overseas. Soldiers responded to a simulated mass casualty situation.
Dozens of would-be patients had to pass through a decontamination unit before making it to the combat support hospital. From outside, the hospital looks like like your typical campground tent, but inside soldiers have state-of-the-art equipment. Soldiers are operating on mannequins, but Colonel Benjamin Kulper says the wounds and injuries they treat are very real. "From the pictures and descriptions the more launch artists, because it is very artistic, make up the mannequin to represent that type of injury, so it's very real," says Kulper. "From my experience being overseas to what I see here, I'm seeing a physical representation of what we would really see over there."
Ping
I hope they get well soon.
This shows further dangers that our troops are willing to face in their service that provides our freedom.
Makes one think about what those guys say in west Georgia...
That there are may things in the field that can hurt ya.
Oh ya visit Ch. 18's poll
How would you like to see Ronald Reagan honored in the Chippewa Valley?
A plaque or monument
Name a government building in his honor
Name a school in his honor
Name a street in his honor
No tribute
I said School
It's NEA's face, and mentioned more to start with.
Naturally, "No tribute" will win big.
I used to train at McCoy (at that time, it was "Camp" McCoy) when a member of the 32MPCo based in Milwaukee.
EVERY time we went up there for summer camp, (around this time of year,) there was at least one vicious storm which blew through.
I learned real fast that it was much more prudent to sleep in the cab of one of our 2.5T trucks, and since I was a mechanic, that was easy to arrange.
I made it a post
How would you like to see Ronald Reagan honored in the Chippewa Valley? ( WI )
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1153326/posts
trained there myself, back in the '70's...helped erect that fence around the installation for the Cubans that Carter was letting into the country...the folks in Toma and Sparta were pretty pissed...
My prayers for the soldiers.
Must be Bush's fault.
Anybody hear from Old Sarge lately?
He was on this morning.
Here's a personal note about Camp McCoy:
My mother's second cousin had a brother who served in the Army and fought in Korea. He came home without a scratch, and was sent to Camp McCoy.
He was killed in a vehicle accident there soon after.
I missed that period--was done and gone mid-1975. Was back once, with a Boy Scout troop. We took a winter camp up there (you can do it, making arrangements in advance)--and picked a weekend when the BlackHawks were exercising. The kids were awestruck.
Also happened to be an infantry/gunnery company on base, so we took the kids out to the range and they watched .50Cal machine gun barrels turn cherry-red.
Soldiers Recovering from Lightning Strike
Fort McCoy is in Wisconsin.
I once stepped on a dauber (or something in the bee family) nest there and ended up with multiple stings - - the cumulative effect made me woozy. The corpsman gave me an aspirin and sent me back to work.
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