2 wounded soldiers die mysteriously at Brooke Army Medical Center

2 wounded GIs die mysteriously at BAMC

By Sig Christenson - Express-News
The Army is investigating the deaths of two soldiers who were recovering from wounds at Brooke Army Medical Center, one of them a survivor of a car bomb blast in Baghdad.

Chief Warrant Officer 1 Judson Erik Mount and Spc. Craig Reginald Hamilton died April 7 and March 27, respectively, prompting criminal intelligence division investigations and autopsies, the Army said Thursday.

Both GIs were recovering in an Army warrior transition battalion, a system designed to improve medical care for wounded soldiers. Deaths in those units, however, prompted the Army's surgeon general, Lt. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker, to tell the House Armed Services Committee last year that “we're seeing a pattern” of overdoses and suicides.

Hamilton, 35, of Milford, N.H., had been injured at Fort Sill, Okla., while Mount, a 37-year-old former San Antonio resident, suffered extensive wounds in a blast near a market that killed Staff Sgt. Timothy H. Walker.

“Jud kept seeing Timmy's eyes staring at him. He kept having the flashbacks every night,” said his mother, Joyce Mount of Franklin, Tenn.

Just what happened to Hamilton and Mount isn't clear, and their deaths have not been explained. BAMC and Defense Department did not give information about either man prior to a San Antonio Express-News inquiry, and declined to elaborate when asked for details, citing ongoing probes.

One issue arising from deaths like these is the mixing of medications. At least three soldiers may have died of drug interactions nationwide, one of them Sgt. Robert Nichols, 31, at Fort Sam.
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2 wounded GIs die mysteriously at BAMC