Ft. Campbell IDs Soldier Killed In Training Exercise

Pfc. Kevin Rodriguez is the 22-year-old infantryman who was shot during a live-fire exercise at Fort Campbell, the post announced Wednesday afternoon. He was pronounced dead at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital on post Tuesday morning.

He enlisted in October of 2013 and had already completed one tour of duty with the 3
^rd Brigade Combat Team, returning from Afghanistan in June. Rodriguez was a native of Puerto Rico and is survived by his parents.

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^st Airborne spokesman Lt. Col. Brian DeSantis says training deaths are more of a shock than when soldiers are killed in action.

“When something like this happens, everybody seems to feel it, and that seems to be the case with all the outpouring of support and condolence messages we’ve gotten so far,” DeSantis says.

The shooting death is still under investigation, but DeSantis says early indicators suggest it was an accident.

Fort Campbell endured another training death earlier this year when a
25-year-old private collapsed during a 6-mile march on the second day of Air Assault school.

In 1991, Gen. David Petraeus was
shot in the chest during an exercise at Fort Campbell and saved during a five-hour surgery
by Dr. Bill Frist, who would go on to be a U.S. senator from Tennessee.