Army says it’s making changes after drowning of Utah solider
By: Nate Carlisle
Posted at 5:14 PM, Sep 29, 2022 and last updated7:14PM, Sep 29, 2022
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah soldier drowned last year due, at least in part, to an inadequate safety vest and a lack of protocols by U.S. Army special forces, according to an investigator’s report.
Staff Sgt. Paul L. Olmstead drowned Sept. 21, 2021, at Fort Campbell — an Army post on the Kentucky-Tennessee line. Olmstead, a member of the Utah National Guard’s 19th Special Forces Group, was wearing an Aqualung Scout Swimmer Vest. It has a carbon dioxide cartridge the swimmer can detonate to inflate the vest.
But Olmstead apparently lost consciousness and never had the opportunity to inflate the vest, according to a report FOX 13 obtained through a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
https://www.fox13now.com/news/fox-13-investigates/army-says-its-making-changes-after-drowning-of-utah-solider