FORT HOOD, Texas -- An experienced soldier who lost contact during a training exercise on the sprawling Fort Hood Army base was found dead four days later, and investigators were hoping Wednesday that autopsy results would provide clues to what happened.
Sgt. Lawrence G. Sprader, 25, had been on a solo exercise to test basic map-reading and navigation skills when was last heard from Friday evening, said Col. Diane Battaglia, a III Corps spokeswoman at Fort Hood.
Hundreds of soldiers and civilians spent four days searching the 15,000-acre training range in 90-degree heat before discovering his body late Tuesday.
Battaglia did not have information on whether his body was found within the boundaries of the land-navigation course. It was sent for an autopsy and the cause of death had not been determined Tuesday evening, she said.
Sprader, 25, was one of nearly 320 noncommissioned officers taking part in a two-week leadership course.
Nine other soldiers got lost during the three-hour map reading 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, Battaglia said.
Reached on his cell phone two hours after the exercise was over, Sprader told commanders he wanted to finish the drill. He gave no indication then that he was ill or distressed, officials said.
The hilly terrain can be difficult to navigate and harbors poisonous snakes and other hazards, and the heat can be dangerous. But post officials said no other soldier had ever been lost on the heavily used range long enough to prompt such a huge search.
Hundreds of soldiers had searched thousands of acres, often walking shoulder to shoulder. They were joined by an aircraft equipped with heat-seeking infrared equipment, dozens of horses, all-terrain vehicles, bloodhounds and helicopters.
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.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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