{"id":37659,"date":"2020-09-28T20:38:49","date_gmt":"2020-09-28T20:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/09\/28\/problems-plagued-bradley-crews-before-mishap-killed-3-soldiers\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:19:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:19:53","slug":"problems-plagued-bradley-crews-before-mishap-killed-3-soldiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2020\/09\/28\/problems-plagued-bradley-crews-before-mishap-killed-3-soldiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Problems plagued Bradley crews before mishap killed 3 soldiers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With their lights off, the Bradley fighting vehicles<\/a> lumbered through the darkness at Fort, Stewart<\/a>, Georgia, in the wee hours of Oct. 20, 2019. But mist and humidity degraded some of the vehicle optics soldiers were using to find their way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A low blanket of clouds blocked out much of the moonlight that could have illuminated their night vision devices. And the poor weather, remnants of a tropical storm, prevented temperature changes throughout the day that would have helped contour objects in their thermal devices after dark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not long after the decision was made to turn off lights and drive using optics, a Bradley crew flipped off a bridge they didn\u2019t even know they were crossing, according to an investigation into the fatal mishap obtained by Army Times through the Freedom of Information Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army officials said no single factor caused the accident. But witness interviews highlighted common problems that came to a head after the company commander decided to \u201cgo blackout\u201d on a roadway intended to be driven with white lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problems included vehicle optics that failed in the murky weather; a bridge that couldn\u2019t be seen by all soldiers; drivers who were tired from the multiday exercise; dead spots that inhibited radio calls; and an emergency exit for the driver that was blocked by gear when the vehicle ran off the bridge and into the water below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In briefing slides, the unit acknowledged that \u201ccompany leadership failed to implement effective measures to mitigate the risk posed by crossing the bridge under limited visibility.\u201d But no administrative or disciplinary action was taken against leaders following the incident, corps-level officials told Army Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signs of problems<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roughly a dozen vehicles were negotiating Route 129 in Fort Stewart\u2019s training area on the night of the mishap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sgt. 1st Class Bryan A. Jenkins, 41, kept watch through the hatch of the Bradley he commanded, guiding the vehicle\u2019s much younger driver, Pfc. Antonio G. Garcia, 21, according to a platoon leader who spotted them before the accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jenkins \u201calways did the right thing” like that, according to the platoon leader\u2019s witness interview summary. All names in the investigation were redacted except those who died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sgt. Thomas C. Walker, 22, served as the vehicle\u2019s gunner that night, adding a third man to the front of the Bradley. In the back sat three other infantrymen, one napping as the vehicle continued forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sgt. 1st Class Bryan Jenkins pictured to the left with his wife, Shana, and to the right in the field. Jenkins served nearly two decades in the Army, including two tours in Iraq. (Courtesy of family)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jenkins joked with Garcia a bit, an unnamed soldier in the back recalled, but there wasn\u2019t a lot of talking. A platoon sergeant told investigators that Garcia was one of the most experienced drivers in the company, but even he had trouble peering through the weather and darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jenkins made a radio call to relay the problem, saying the optics inside their Bradley weren\u2019t working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue wasn\u2019t unique to them. Before the fatal roll over, another Bradley crew, also experiencing troubles with their optics, accidentally drove into the woods. Multiple troops reported that their vehicle optics were \u201cflaring out” and \u201cfogging up,\u201d or simply \u201cgoing out,” according to summaries of witness interviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The soldiers had been in the field for two days before the mishap, preparing for an upcoming rotation to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walker\u2019s wife, Taylor, told Army Times she barely saw her husband due to constant training. She said she was thankful for the help offered by Walker\u2019s unit in the wake of his death, but hopes the Army as a whole learns something from the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t look at it as another accident or tragedy,\u201d she said. \u201cThree wonderful men \u2014 one being a father, another a husband and one never starting his life \u2014 were taken too soon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sentiment was shared by Garcia\u2019s mother, Teresa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t feel that the military did everything they could to protect these guys,” she said. “They were careless. They were in a hurry. And the circumstances were yelling out to them. The weather, the technical difficulties, all those things were screaming out to the commanders to pay attention, and they did not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bridge they didn\u2019t see<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything was silent as the crew approached a bridge over Canoochee Creek. Then there was a loud pop and the soldiers felt their Bradley slide for about seven seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bradley had hit the bridge\u2019s guard rail. Unable to see that they were not on a roadway, Garcia did the sensible thing and corrected his vehicle\u2019s path off the object.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bradley fell 15 feet, landed in water upside down and was submerged up to its tracks. Two of the infantrymen in the back were awake; a third was unconscious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The turret was already filled with water that was now pouring into the rest of the vehicle, but the turret door was closed. Those in the back were talking, but they couldn\u2019t hear anything from Jenkins, Garcia and Walker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sgt. Thomas Walker pictured here to the left with his wife, Taylor, and to the right in training. Walker joined the Army in 2016, deploying once to the Korean peninsula before the mishap. (Courtesy of family)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The vehicle\u2019s alarms started sounding. An infantry team leader pushed the ramp door open and the water level rose rapidly in the back compartment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team leader ducked out to the surface before holding his breath and diving back down, \u201creaching for whoever he could feel in the water,” the investigation reads. The first person he pulled out was conscious. The second was not. The team leader pulled him to the surface and began \u201cpounding on his chest\u201d until he spit up water and regained consciousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the three soldiers in the back of the Bradley were out, they ran to flag down other vehicles, which appeared to have not noticed the accident at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going \u2018blackout\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Route 129 is an administrative road through the training area, intended to be driven with white lights, according to multiple witness statements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of safety concerns, the company commander first told his troops to keep lights on while they drove the more treacherous back roads. That was despite being yelled at by a major from another battalion to turn their lights off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as they prepared to turn onto the administrative road, the company commander decided to use the opportunity to go blackout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, Route 129 is straight, wide and familiar to the soldiers, he reasoned. Plus, the brigade and division commanders had been out observing training that day, and driving tactically is an important skill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe main reason the commander made the decision to go blackout drive was to meet the brigade commander\u2019s intent, and there were a lot of eyes watching them\u201a\u201d reads the summary of a witness interview with the company\u2019s acting first sergeant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Pfc. Antonio Garcia had been in the Army for roughly one year at the time of his death. He was called one of the company’s best drivers by an officer in the investigation. (Legacy.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As soon as the drivers left the back roads and turned off their lights on Route 129, \u201cthings started to go wrong,\u201d one section sergeant said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Bradley accidentally drove into the woods because the driver\u2019s vision enhancement optics inside “went out and turned white.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others began having issues with radios. But many had trouble seeing through their vehicle optics in the poor weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some drivers broke out their personal night vision goggles to help. In the back of vehicles, other infantrymen dozed off, tired from days of training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rest and maintenance<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of those involved in the mishap belonged to an unnamed company under 1st Armored Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division. Their brigade commander, Col. Trent Upton, expressed regret over the accident during a recent telephone interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe 20th of October will be a day that\u2019s ingrained in my mind as a commander for the rest of my life,\u201d Upton told Army Times. \u201cLosing those soldiers is something that affects us, and me, every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Upton defended the decision to drive blackout on Route 129.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was designated as an administrative route,\u201d Upton acknowledged. \u201cThat said, due to the width and how often the unit had traversed it in the past, it was an opportunity for that specific unit to get some additional training in for night driving proficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since arriving in the field, they had trained nonstop with \u201clittle time to conduct maintenance on their Bradley vehicles,\u201d a platoon sergeant told investigators. The company had also been short on personnel in all leadership positions, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Bradley vehicle is pictured here, submerged up to its tread in the creek following the Oct. 20, 2019, mishap. (FOIA\/Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A section sergeant told investigators that he never slept during field exercises and both of his drivers were \u201cextremely tired.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upton said he couldn\u2019t address individual soldiers’ statements, but emphasized that rest cycles are factored into all his brigade\u2019s training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are also guidelines, he added, that require a minimum of six hours of sleep for drivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe company maneuver training lanes that we were executing, again, were designed to deliberately slow things down \u2026 as well as [offer] time for recovery and soldier rest plans,\u201d Upton said. \u201cAnd then we adjusted those schedules throughout our execution window.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Hell hole\u2019 wasn\u2019t clear<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After escaping the roll over and flagging down another Bradley crew, a group of soldiers sprinted back to the water. Others ran for help and sought reception to make emergency calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the creek, soldiers worked tirelessly to recover their teammates. They took turns diving into the vehicle so they could each catch their breath. Eventually, they pulled Jenkins and Walker from the back of the Bradley and began CPR on both men. They then pried open the driver\u2019s hatch, but still couldn\u2019t find Garcia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An officer ultimately told the soldiers to get out of the water because an M88 recovery vehicle had arrived to tow the Bradley from the creek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garcia was recovered afterward, but all three soldiers were pronounced dead at the scene. The causes of death were ruled as drownings, an Army official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team leader who survived the roll over told investigators he had to switch Bradleys after their original vehicle\u2019s optical device also broke. When they got into the new Bradley, the back was clean, but the \u201chell hole,\u201d a small corridor the driver can escape through in an emergency, was filled with gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A platoon leader stated the same, telling investigators that \u201cGarcia drowned trying to get out of the hell hole because all the gear that was shoved in there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A picture taken of Bridge 11, where the Bradley crew rolled off on Oct. 20, 2019. (FOIA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After the accident, the entire brigade stood down from training to share \u201clessons learned,\u201d such as the importance of keeping the hell hole free and clear, according to Upton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t stated in the investigation why the hell hole was so cluttered, but it appeared to be a factor of the vehicles breaking down and soldiers switching loads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve also, as I mentioned, worked very hard to try to apply the lessons learned from this tragic event to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future,” Upton added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fixes and more training<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The investigating officer didn\u2019t recommend any disciplinary actions following the incident. Lt. Gen. Michael Kurilla, the corps commander overseeing 3rd Infantry Division, agreed with that stance, said his spokesman, Col. Joe Buccino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buccino added that the \u201cXVIII Airborne Corps leadership is dedicated to mining this incident for inefficiencies and hazards we can solve for future training events at all echelons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One hazard on which they\u2019ve focused is thermal crossover, a natural phenomenon in which the temperatures of objects aren\u2019t different enough to contrast against one another on infrared imagery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The weather brief, included in the investigation, noted that dense cloud cover prevented the bridge from heating up during the day and cooling off at night. That, combined with the lack of ambient light, made it difficult to spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another soldier driving that night stated that he couldn\u2019t see the signs warning of a bridge ahead. When he hit the right side of it, he said, it felt like they had driven over a speed bump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New software has been given to weather forecasters at Fort Stewart to help with that problem, said 3rd Infantry Division spokeswoman Lt. Col. Lindsey Elder. The newly installed \u201cterrain awareness and warning system\u201d hadn\u2019t been used at the range since 2014, due to an incompatibility with the Army network, according to the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The software does many things, but one feature is the ability to predict when thermal crossover is occurring on the range, though it\u2019s impossible to predict all the time, Elder cautioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Driver training across 3rd Infantry Division also increased threefold after the incident to address the issues soldiers experienced with their optical devices in the Bradley vehicles, according to Buccino.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fort Stewart officials said bridge markings were also put up that can now be seen under blackout drive optics in thermal and infrared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the radio issues on the night of the accident, the division conducted an assessment of the FM broadcasting, land mobile radio and call box coverage in the training areas to identify gaps in coverage and create a map showing where units required more antennae.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Shame on them if it happens again\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the three soldiers lost last October, Jenkins and Walker were both married. In Jenkins’ case, he is also survived by a son and two daughters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jenkins was a veteran of two deployments during the Iraq War. His platoon leader considered him the most experienced person in the company on the Bradley vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walker joined the Army in 2016 and had previously deployed to South Korea. He liked hosting barbecues with friends and family, according to his obituary, and he had an infectious smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe loved his job and what he did,” Taylor Walker recalled. “He told me every day, \u2018You will be okay if I don\u2019t come home.’ I\u2019m blessed for our time together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garcia had been in the Army the shortest of the three men. He was the oldest of triplets, his mother said, and his parents’ only son. He always defended his sisters and stood close by his friends who were going through hardships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was just a good soul, and it\u2019s very hard to be such a good person,\u201d Garcia\u2019s mother said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A month after the fatal accident at Fort Stewart, another Bradley overturned at Camp Humphreys<\/a>, South Korea, claiming the life of a 20-year-old soldier there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just hope that the military does something to slow down, to be more careful,” Teresa Garcia said. “And shame on them if it happens again. We saw it happen right after Antonio died, there was the incident in Korea, and I understand that accidents happen, but this is too much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The soldiers\u2019 division commander, Maj. Gen. Tony Aguto, offered his condolences to the three soldiers’ families in a statement to Army Times prior to publishing this story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to personally assure you that we have taken this very seriously,” Aguto said. \u201cThe readiness of our mission is paramount, and we must be able to answer the nation\u2019s call. While this loss was tragic, what we do is inherently dangerous and we continue to learn and improve. We have made a number of improvements since that day, which have been shared across the Army.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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