NCO reprimanded in Hood training death case

NCO reprimanded in Hood training death case
By Angela K. Brown - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Mar 24, 2008 21:57:54 EDT

FORT WORTH, Texas — A former Army training group leader who narrowly avoided a court-martial has been given a letter of reprimand over allegations he lied about when he last spoke to a soldier who died during a Fort Hood training exercise, his attorney said Monday.

The letter was placed in Master Sgt. Terry Peggins’ permanent military file last week, a month after a senior commander at Fort Hood said the evidence against him would not support a court-martial, said attorney John Galligan.

Peggins is one of six leaders of Fort Hood’s Noncommissioned Officers Academy who faced discipline over the death last June of Sgt. Lawrence Sprader, who was found dead on a map-reading training course after being lost for four days. An autopsy determined that he died of dehydration and hyperthermia.

The letter placed in Peggins’ file includes information on three dereliction-of-duty charges that Army officials had dropped before deciding that Peggins would not face a court-martial, Galligan said.

Peggins, who has more than 20 years of military service, was accused of not advising soldiers on proper precautions to take on that hot day last summer, not ensuring that enough leaders were patrolling the training course and not taking adequate safety precautions.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/ap_peggins_reprimanded_032408/