Soldier found dead in Killeen, TX
Folks have been sending me the link to this story about an unnamed soldier who was “self-monitoring” his health after he returned from the operations against Ebola in West Africa. Apparently, he was found dead in his yard yesterday and out of an abundance of caution, first responders removed his body while wearing protective equipment.
The unidentified soldier, who recently returned to Fort Hood in central Texas on emergency leave, was monitoring himself twice daily and reporting his status to medical officials, they said.
He was found dead at his off-post residence in the town of Killeen.
“We are not saying Ebola at all,” Killeen police spokeswoman Carol Smith said. “It’s just that because of the circumstances from West Africa, we are erring on the side of caution.”
This is the United States of America – we don’t die of Ebola in our homes – we go to the hospital when we get that sick, so I doubt very much that the soldier died of Ebola. I know everyone wants to believe that Ebola was involved, but I just can’t convince myself that someone with that deadly, painful condition wouldn’t seek medical help. I’m calling this one a media distraction.
Category: Military issues
Agreed. Sounds like a heart issue or something like that to me. You don’t just drop dead from Ebola.
As my old 1SG used to say when we got home from the field: “Don’t try and drink up all the beer in town in one night. Save some for next weekend!”
My guess: Joe was celebrating his safe return from deployment a little too hard and underestimated his tolerance.
Even if he for some reason refused to go see a Doc, I see him dying in his bed or on the couch. Dead on the front lawn seems more like staggering home and didn’t quite make it.
Back in the day, I always staggered to the back yard. I wanted to keep up the appearances in the neighborhood.
Heart attack from cardiomyopathy.
Ex-PH2 – is that your prediction or based on new info?
(Not trying to be argumentative – I seriously want to know. I haven’t seen any official pronouncements yet, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any.)
No. Undetected cardiomyopathy will cause the heart to stop. It thickens the heart muscles so much that over time, the heart is unable to function, so it just stops beating. The full name is hypertrophic cardiomyoparthy.
It’s happened to several high school football players in my area, and it happened to one of my cats. He literally dropped dead in his tracks.
The only prevention is a blood thinner, but eventually replacement with a new heart is required. It’s a genetic disorder which can be passed on to children. It can show up as an enlarged heart on an EKG.
joe was on emergency leave and was allowed to leave the quarantine area on post. probably alcohol. maybe a med overdose. wonder what the e leave was for. may be suicide if joe was depressed or something
I’m curious as to the nature of his emergency leave?