Father joins search for soldier missing in Utah

Father joins search for soldier missing in Utah
By Lynn DeBruin - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday May 17, 2011 18:29:29 EDT

SALT LAKE CITY — Army Spc. Joseph Michael Bushling had a tough year following his recent divorce and the 2010 suicide of his younger brother, but was looking forward to a new post in Texas and a career as a nurse. He’s now missing somewhere in Utah’s western desert.

His father, Kevin Bushling, had planned a trip this week to see his son, who was stationed at the U.S. Army’s remote Dugway Proving Ground. The site was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942 to study chemical and biological warfare and covers 798,214 acres in the desert along the Nevada border.

Instead, Bushling will fly out from his home in Arkansas to collect his son’s things. A weeklong search has now been suspended indefinitely.

“I’m very worried. I really am,” Kevin Bushling said Tuesday. “Yesterday was my wife’s birthday. He went missing on Mother’s Day. It’s really been a difficult time.”

Bushling disappeared May 8 after calling a friend to report he had run out of gas. His vehicle was found Saturday about 60 miles southwest of the facility’s main gate. His Arkansas Razorbacks hat was found Monday about six miles from his abandoned car, but searchers have since turned up nothing else.
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Father joins search for soldier missing in Utah