The military says a an Army paratrooper has died during an airborne training exercise at Fort Polk in Louisiana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A news release from the soldier’s division, the North Carolina-based 82nd Airborne, says Pvt. Joshua D. Phillips, 19, of Las Vegas, Nevada, died during the exercise Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Cathy Wilkinson says Phillips died while parachuting during an exercise to simulate the seizure of an airstrip. The cause is under investigation and she couldn’t elaborate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wilkinson says 2,000 service members were participating in training meant create realistic combat-like situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The release says Phillips joined the Army in 2014 and trained in Missouri and Georgia before reporting to the 82nd Airborne. His awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, and the Parachutist Badge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The entire battalion was shocked to hear the tragic news of Pvt. Phillips’ death,” said Lt. Col. Andrew Liffring, the 37th Engineer Battalion commander, in the statement. “Since his arrival a couple of months ago, Josh made an immediate impact in Alpha company and in the battalion. He showed so much potential at such a young age and will be sorely missed. Our deepest condolences remain with his Family and friends during this time of great loss.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The military says a an Army paratrooper has died during an airborne training exercise at Fort Polk in Louisiana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":70,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[12,70],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1350],"class_list":["post-44608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-your-army"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"GP6J2ODTNBG7VMNTGSAH2UEY2Y","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-army\/2015\/04\/18\/nc-based-paratrooper-killed-during-training-at-fort-polk\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n