{"id":47178,"date":"2021-07-09T18:09:15","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T18:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/07\/09\/sick-paratrooper-who-died-of-infection-was-failed-by-leadership-investigation-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:40:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:40:40","slug":"sick-paratrooper-who-died-of-infection-was-failed-by-leadership-investigation-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/2021\/07\/09\/sick-paratrooper-who-died-of-infection-was-failed-by-leadership-investigation-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Sick paratrooper who died of infection was failed by leadership, investigation says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This story was first published in the <\/i>Fayetteville Observer<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FORT BRAGG \u2014 Pvt. 2nd Class Caleb Grant Smither looked up to paratroopers. That\u2019s why he became one, his mother, Heather Baker, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Baker thinks some of the paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne Division<\/a> that her son served with let him down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smither, affectionately known as Smitty, was a paratrooper with the E Company, 37th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After spending just seven weeks and four days at Fort Bragg<\/a>, the soldier from Texas was found dead in his barracks room Jan. 21, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was just a 19-year-old kid with lots of vigor and ready to go and (who) loved his country,\u201d Baker said last month during a Zoom call. \u201cHe knew exactly what he was getting into, and I did, too, but I never expected him to die on U.S. soil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to an Army Criminal Investigation Division report provided to The Fayetteville Observer by Baker and her attorney, Smither died of bacterial meningitis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report, which includes multiple statements from soldiers in Smither\u2019s company \u2014 with their names redacted \u2014 states Smither hit his head in early January 2020 while working in the motor pool on a military vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the actions of the soldiers in her son\u2019s unit before his death and Womack Army Medical Center\u2019s failure to properly diagnose his injury that Baker has questions about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are conflicting statements on the date Smither went to the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is the soldier in his chain of command who later told investigators he lied about checking on him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is the roommate who sprayed air freshener to rid the shared kitchen of a bad smell that was later attributed to Smither\u2019s decomposing body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there are mentions of a concussion Smither received days before his death and a seemingly unrelated meningitis diagnosis that came months after his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverything that I found out \u2014 it just gives me more questions,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who was Caleb Smither?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smither grew up in the small Texas town of Wolfforth on the outskirts of Lubbock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was like the perfect all-American kid,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her son liked hiking, camping, running and wrestling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She described him as popular in school because he was silly, a good kid, and built relationships with all social classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smither always wanted to join the military, initially considering the Marines or becoming a Navy Seal, before deciding he wanted to join the 82nd Airborne Division, his mother said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though he wanted to enlist by the time he was 17, his mother encouraged him to finish his senior year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division walk to their C-17 aircraft for their jump into Sicily drop zone on April 13, 2021, at Fort Bragg, N.C. The soldiers completed an all-female pass to pay homage to the rich history of women in the U.S. Army. (Spc Emely Opio\/Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She said she still supported his adventurous spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m so proud of him that he wanted to go airborne,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smither enlisted in the Army in May 2019 and was stationed at Fort Bragg by December that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker said that in one of her last conversations with her son, he showed her his maroon beret, the mark of distinction reserved solely for the airborne soldier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was so proud of it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A mother\u2019s intuition<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker said that on the day her son\u2019s body was found lying on his back on the floor of his barracks bedroom, she was unknowingly wearing his sweatshirt emblazoned with an American flag that he left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She fell asleep that night and was awakened at about 6:30 a.m. by persistent banging on her door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other side were two soldiers in uniform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI knew,\u201d Baker said. \u201cAs a parent, you just know right then what it\u2019s about, and you can\u2019t make sense of it in your mind or your heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The soldiers confirmed what she suspected. Caleb was gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She told them she didn\u2019t understand \u2014 that she\u2019d just dropped her son off at the airport on Thanksgiving Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She kept asking what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was just a lot of questions that I had and that there were no answers to,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Headaches and hospital visits<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Army CID report, soldiers in Smither\u2019s company indicated the last time anyone saw him was Jan. 16, 2020, five days before his body was found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

His mother questions that date. A command briefing months later states that on Jan. 15, he was instructed to stay in his room, and she believes that was the last time anyone on Fort Bragg saw him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A private, who attended Army training school with Smither, said the two worked on a vehicle together sometime between Jan. 6 and Jan. 10, when Smither stood up and accidentally hit his head on a radiator, according to the CID report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another reference in a separate investigation states the head injury was Jan. 9, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The private told investigators she and Smither took a short break after he hit his head, and afterward, he seemed fine and went back to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple of days later, she said, he started to complain about a bad headache, but later came over to eat and seemed fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She gave investigators a voicemail she received from Smither on Jan. 14, in which he was crying because his head hurt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker said the fact that her son was crying was a red flag to her because he was not the type to cry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The private told investigators that after she received the voicemail, she went to Smither\u2019s room to place a cold compress on his head before leaving for work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said she also texted a sergeant saying that she thought Smither should go to the emergency room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When she left, she told her friend to text her if he needed anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe never texted me, so I just assumed he was fine,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, when she saw him writing in a group chat, she thought he was getting better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a statement from a specialist in Smither\u2019s unit, a sergeant asked him to pick Smither up from sick call on Jan. 14 and take him to Womack Army Medical Center to have his \u201chead looked at.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The specialist said when he met up with Smither, the young soldier was wearing goggles and complained of his eyes bothering him and being unable to sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the ER visit, the specialist said, Smither was pale and shaking but did not appear to be in pain, though he was still wearing the goggles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The specialist left after walking Smither back to the barracks and telling him to call if he needed anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Smither arrived at formation the next day, again wearing goggles and complaining his head hurt and his eyes were sensitive to light, a sergeant first class took him back to the emergency room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While in the emergency room waiting area, Smither threw up after drinking water, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The senior leader left when Smither\u2019s team leader, a sergeant, arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sergeant also said he witnessed Smither vomit at the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sergeant said after a CT scan, doctors said everything looked fine, but put Smither on quarters for 24 hours, excusing him from formations and work and ordering him to stay in his room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sergeant said he didn\u2019t see Smither again because he left Fort Bragg to attend a leadership course. But before the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend began and he left, the sergeant asked Smither\u2019s acting squad leader, a specialist, to check on him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smither would be found dead six days later on a Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who\u2019s checking on Smither?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his statement to CID, Smither\u2019s company commander, a captain, named two soldiers, the names redacted in the report, who he said checked on Smither periodically during the four-day holiday weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The specialist who was asked to keep an eye on Smither told investigators that he was out of town for two days during the long weekend and claimed to have checked on Smither on Sunday, Jan. 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in another interview the following day, the specialist admitted he\u2019d lied about checking on Smither.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt very guilty about not checking up on him and was scared,\u201d the specialist said in his statement to CID. The last date the specialist checked on Smither was Jan. 16, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he didn\u2019t see Smither on Jan. 20, 2020, and noticed he wasn\u2019t at formation the following day, Jan. 21, he finally checked on him. But Smither was dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A corporal said he called to check on Smither on the Friday of the long weekend after noticing a change in his behavior at formation.<\/p>\n\n\n\t