19 December 2014

Speaking of Lucky: Everyone Lived

I wrote this morning about a skier who survived burial in an avalanche.

Now the Associated Press brings the story of 23 soldiers doing field duty at Eielson Air Force Base survived carbon monoxide poisoning.

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — Army investigators in Alaska have concluded that a corroded vent hose on a field stove caused carbon monoxide poisoning that sickened 23 soldiers during a September exercise.

Army Alaska spokesman Lt. Col. Alan Brown tells the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (http://bit.ly/1GVgjkp) that the carbon monoxide came from a gas-fueled oven used to heat trays of food in a kitchen tent.

Investigators concluded the corroded hose was not properly connected and kept gas inside the tent.
None of the soldiers in the incident Sept. 25 near Eielson Air Force Base suffered life-threatening injuries. Nineteen were treated and released. Four showed elevated carbon monoxide levels in their blood but recovered after hospital stays.

The soldiers were part of the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

 Thank God that no one died. Our soldiers have enough on their plates without worrying about death-by-mess-tent.

8 comments:

joated said...

I've heard that Army food could kill ya, but this is going above and beyond!

Glad to hear all the soldiers recovered.

Rev. Paul said...

There were t-shirts, years ago, with the Airborne Rangers' slogan of "Death from above" ... and the Army cooks countered with theirs: "Death from within."

I always got a kick out of that.

Sandy Livesay said...

Rev. Paul,

Go Figure.....we didn't hear any of this in the news here.

Thank God everyone recovered from this incident. The good Lord was watching over each and every soldier.

Rev. Paul said...

Sandy - we understand. They only mention Alaska if it involves the Tea Party or (shudder!) Sarah Palin. :)

Old NFO said...

Yep, LUCKY is right... Glad they are okay!

Rev. Paul said...

Us too, sir.

On a Wing and a Whim said...

The Good Lord watches out for people... Though between this and the death via food poisoning at UAF's Lola Tilly cafeteria years ago, how bad are the jokes about "Fairbanks - the food'll kill ya?" going to get?

Rev. Paul said...

Wing, remember that the water can kill you in Fairbanks, too. Pretty place, but eat and drink carefully. :)