Fort Hood, Texas – Teams of soldiers and civilians scoured the rugged Fort Hood terrain Monday for a soldier missing since he set out on a solo navigation exercise three days earlier.
Military Black Hawks and a state helicopter searched for Army Sgt. Lawrence Sprader as about 500 soldiers pored over 25 square miles of rolling terrain that includes scrubland and woods, authorities said.
Searchers were in all-terrain vehicles and on horseback, accompanied by bloodhounds, said Col. Diane Battaglia, a III Corps spokeswoman at the central Texas post.
Sprader, 24, was last heard from Friday evening about an hour before he was supposed to have completed the six-hour solo navigational mission from the post.
“We think he got disoriented on the course and got misdirected,” Battaglia said. “In his last message, he said he reached a hard, paved road and was instructed to call in if that happened. He wasn’t able to give any terms of reference as to where he was located.”
Temperatures crept into the mid-80s Monday and were expected to reach into the 90s later in the day.
“The longer he goes without being resupplied with water or food, or if he is completely lost and disoriented, there would be fear for his physical well-being,” Battaglia said.
Sprader, who is assigned to the Army’s Noncommissioned Officer Academy, was carrying two canteens and a water backpack, she said.
“We do believe he is somewhere on the installation, and that area abuts up next to several public roads,” Battaglia said. “We believe he may not be right mentally or physically.”
