Fort Hood sees rising number of accidents over last decade

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — Records show there have been a rising number of accidents — both large and small — at Fort Hood over the last decade.

The Austin American-Statesman (http://atxne.ws/2cilpU7 ) reports the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center says the number of reported accidents at the Army post in Killeen reached a 10-year high of 109 in 2015. Accident numbers have risen there even as the population of active-duty soldiers has fallen.

In June, nine soldiers died when a transport truck was swept into a rain-swollen creek. Since 2006, accidents at Fort Hood have resulted in 23 deaths of soldiers and Army employees.

Officials from III Corps Command Group, under which most of the post’s units fall, say accidents “can be affected by the operational tempo and home station population of our soldiers.”