{"id":21537,"date":"2018-09-25T16:45:20","date_gmt":"2018-09-25T16:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/09\/25\/fort-polk-soldier-sentenced-for-making-and-using-a-chlorine-bomb-on-post\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:19:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:19:19","slug":"fort-polk-soldier-sentenced-for-making-and-using-a-chlorine-bomb-on-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2018\/09\/25\/fort-polk-soldier-sentenced-for-making-and-using-a-chlorine-bomb-on-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Polk soldier sentenced for making and using a chlorine bomb on post"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The soldier arrested last year after setting off an explosive in a field near Fort Polk, Louisiana, <\/a>will spend 11 years in prison, according to a Monday release from the Justice Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A judge sentenced Pfc. Ryan Keith Taylor<\/a>, 24, for manufacturing, possessing and detonating a chemical weapon <\/a>in the national forest next to the Louisiana installation, the release said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday\u2019s sentence holds Taylor accountable for his crime and makes clear that we will not tolerate such conduct,\u201d Assistant Attorney General John Demers said in the release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Soldiers with the Indiana National Guard’s Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 293rd Infantry Regiment, 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, engage a target while participating in a live-fire exercise at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, in July. The team will lead a Pacific Pathways exercise in 2018. (Master Sgt. Brad Staggs\/Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Taylor pleaded guilty on June 11 to detonating a chlorine bomb in the Kisatchie National Forest on April 12, 2017. Three soldiers who were training nearby heard the explosion and found Taylor filming the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fort Polk military police officers were injured during the initial investigation, according to the DoJ release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne investigator filled a plastic bag with a rock coated in an unknown substance,\u201d the release said. \u201cThe bag immediately popped and the investigator\u2019s plastic gloves and boots began to melt. He also began to experience difficulty breathing and his skin started burning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t