Heart failure caused Stryker (23 yrs old) soldier's death (in Iraq)

[UpInArms]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Soldier%20Death

TACOMA, Wash. -- The Army has determined that a Fort Lewis soldier who died in Mosul, Iraq, this past week suffered heart failure during physical training.

Spc. Frank K. Rivers Jr., 23, of Woodbridge, Va., collapsed from "an acute cardiac event" on Wednesday, the Army said.

<snip>

Rivers is the 13th soldier from the brigade to die since the unit was deployed in November.

...more at link...

RIP Spc. Frank Rivers :taps:

[skooooo]

1. this shit is getting really old....

...a nation's nightmare.

[NMDemDist2]

2. "an acute cardiac event" brought on by "go pills" ???

are they still handing out uppers by the handful over there?

[drfemoe]

5. SOP ... n/t

[Columbia]

7. Unlikely

Those were usually given to pilots on extremely long missions, not the average infantryman.

[drfemoe]

12. Of course

18 month tours of duty are out of the realm of the "average infantryman" too.
The current CoC and his crusaders are not concerned with formerly established methods of warfare. Evidence, the invasion on the cheap, regardless of the repeated warnings from experienced military commanders.

[Columbia]

14. Very true

[Qanisqineq]

15. my husband was given hydroxycut

while he was in Iraq.

[wasichu]

3. they do PT in Iraq??

are they insane?

[Columbia]

11. Some do

You still have to keep in shape.

[Qanisqineq]

17. my husband didn't do PT in Iraq

they were doing too much other physical activities, eating very little, and there was not enough water and the heat too high.

[Columbia]

18. I didn't either

But I knew people who did. Had plenty of water, although it did taste a bit funny. Yeah, the heat definitely makes you less hungry. The same MREs over and over again doesn't help either.

[Triana]

4. let me tell YOU something about our Army...

..they MURDERED my stepbrother at boot camp. This guy was a big, burly dude. They made him walk until he couldn't get up. When he couldn't get up, the drill sargeant bashed him repeatedly in the chest with the butt of a rifle. They listed the cause of death as 'heart failure' or 'flu' or some such bullshit. Well. an autotopsy revealed the injuries to his chest and the bruises on his heart muscle.

But they murdered him. And they got away with it. My stepdad, bless him, couldn't bring himself to fight the uphill battle to legally go after the US Army for what they did to him. He just couldn't do it - the whole thing was just too painful.

SO...the moral of this story: When the US Army says someone died of 'heart failure' or any other ailment - I simply cannot believe them anymore - especially when it's a young man of 23.

They're goddamned murderers - and they're liars to boot.

[Columbia]

6. Smallpox vaccine

Has been known to exacerbate previously unknown heart problems. That could have played a signficant role in Spc. Rivers' death.

If it wasn't that, young people are still susceptible to heart disease. It is rare and difficult to detect without an EKG, but certainly not unheard of.

[John_H]

9. Interesting. Do you have a link describing that side effect?

I can't find it anywhere.

[Columbia]

10. Here you go

I did some graduate research on the smallpox vaccine and was inoculated by the military with it too so I have a lot of experience with this subject.

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/vaccination/heartproblems.asp

[drfemoe]

13. Thirteenth

Rivers is the 13th soldier from the brigade to die since the unit was deployed in November.

More than two a month. It would be interesting to determine how the other 12 died. Maybe that's not unusual. But I wonder why the article says "to die", and nothing about "lost in combat".

I don't doubt your smallpox findings, either. Just saying . . .

[daleo]

8. It is getting warmer again as well

I recall the summer heat caused a few cardiac arrests last year, especially when people are cooped up in armored vehicles. If the sandstorms come, and airplanes and helicopters are grounded, the situation could get quite difficult.

[Mari333]

16. I know of many military families filing lawsuits

Ill be one of them. and it will go down in history that the Bush administration destroyed our National Guard and Reserve, and destroyed our military.
It will go down in History.