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NCO reprimanded in Hood training death case

FORT WORTH, Texas — A former Army training group leader who narrowly avoided a court-martial has been given a letter of reprimand over allegations he lied about when he last spoke to a soldier who died during a Fort Hood training exercise, his attorney said Monday.

The letter was placed in Master Sgt. Terry Peggins’ permanent military file last week, a month after a senior commander at Fort Hood said the evidence against him would not support a court-martial, said attorney John Galligan.

Peggins is one of six leaders of Fort Hood’s Noncommissioned Officers Academy who faced discipline over the death last June of Sgt. Lawrence Sprader, who was found dead on a map-reading training course after being lost for four days. An autopsy determined that he died of dehydration and hyperthermia.

The letter placed in Peggins’ file includes information on three dereliction-of-duty charges that Army officials had dropped before deciding that Peggins would not face a court-martial, Galligan said.

Peggins, who has more than 20 years of military service, was accused of not advising soldiers on proper precautions to take on that hot day last summer, not ensuring that enough leaders were patrolling the training course and not taking adequate safety precautions.

Col. Diane Battaglia, a Fort Hood spokeswoman, said privacy laws prevented her from commenting.

Peggins plans to appeal to have the letter removed from his permanent file because “you don’t survive this in the Army,” Galligan said.

Sprader’s father said he understands the Army’s disciplinary actions but wishes more could have been done.

“There is no reason that this should have happened,” Larry Sprader of Prince George, Va., told The Associated Press by telephone Monday. “Was anybody held accountable? Not really.”

Five other leaders at the academy were given letters of reprimand that were filed locally and not in their permanent military files, Galligan said.

An investigative report said 320 soldiers had already been exposed to the heat for hours before starting the course on June 8. By the time the exercise ended three hours later, about two dozen soldiers were so stricken by the heat they required medical attention.

During the search, military officials told the media that Sprader last spoke to his commander by cell phone about 5 p.m. June 8, saying he was lost but wanted to finish the exercise. But his phone records show no calls coming in or going out after 3:08 p.m. Sprader was not found until June 12.

After the soldier’s death, Peggins was removed from the academy and assigned miscellaneous jobs, and he has already submitted his retirement papers, Galligan said.