Sprader, who is assigned to the Army’s Criminal Inves-tigation Division, was one of 318 soldiers enrolled in the Non-Commissioned Officer Academy’s 6-hour exercise in solo land navigation.
Sprader was the only soldier to not return to the starting point Friday.
Col. Diane Battaglia, public affairs officer for III Corps, told reporters Monday that the Fort Hood Department of Emergency Services is in its third day of looking for Sprader.
Military Black Hawk helicopters and a Texas Depart-ment of Public Safety helicopter have been used in the search for Sprader, who was last heard from Friday about 5:30 p.m.
Col. Battaglia said several calls had come into CID on Friday from people who claimed to have spotted Sprader along public roads that are on the fringe of the training area, but no calls have come in since.
“There is no indication that Sgt. Sprader has gone AWOL,” she said. “By all reports he is a good soldier and leader.”
She said search teams found a score card that belonged to Sprader that indicated he had navigated his way to two rally points on the course. The test requires participants to reach at least three of four rally points.
“Right now we have an additional 500 soldiers from the Non-Commissioned Officers Academy and the 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry of the 4th Infantry Division that are going to start up the search as we speak,” Battaglia said.
She said so far search efforts have covered 8,000 acres. There are an additional 1,500 acres in the immediate vicinity that teams want to search, she said.
“It’s a difficult terrain. We are searching on foot, on horseback, by ATV, and we’ve had the air assets up since early Saturday morning,” she said.
Battaglia said the recent rains have made the vegetation exceptionally lush. If Sprader is dehydrated or exhausted he may have sought shelter out of sight, which is compounding search efforts.
The exercise Friday was Sprader’s third, Battaglia said.
“The last contact we had with the soldier, he indicated he wanted to complete the course,” she said. “There was cell phone communication. The first sergeant contacted him when he failed to return to the starting point of the course from his last (second) rally point. The first sergeant said he appeared to sound lucid and coherent.”
Sprader carried a cell phone with a GPS feature that would help officials located it, but officials determined the cell-phone battery was dead when they tried to vector in on the signal.
“Medical experts say he can survive without water for 96 hours,” Battaglia said. “We don’t know that he is without water. He had two canteens and a camelback water bladder when he departed.”
Search parties are covering 15,000 acres in their search. There are springs and streams in the area, Col. Battaglia said.
“But with the heat it’s essential to find him as soon as possible.”
Witnesses calling in said he was spotted on the side of road. One report said he was walking at a very fast pace but was not flagging down cars or showing signs of distress, she said.
“CID is interviewing all the people who have made the reports to verify the validity and veracity,” she said “He did report in one conversation he had reached a hard-surfaced road.”
Sgt. 1st Class Janice Williams, who is assigned to the III Corps NCO Academy, said she is the test control officer for the land navigation course.
She said the soldiers’ equipment includes a map board with a Fort Hood map, two compasses and a protractor. They are not allowed to carry GIS or GPS navigation devices because that would defeat the training.
“They have breakfast in the morning and are required to carry two MREs (meals ready to eat),” she said. “One is for an emergency and one is for lunch. They are not required to carry a knife, but they do carry an M-16. It’s not loaded.”
She said the training course is a controlled area with a cadre of instructors on foot patrol.
“I have done the course, “ she said “I did not get lost.”
Williams said they have not had anyone fail the land navigation course since she took the job in January 2006. She said prior to that no one had gotten lost since 2003.
Williams said soldiers begin at a starting point, navigate to a rally point, go back to the starting point and navigate to the next rally point in a spoke pattern.
“No spoke is longer than 800 meters, (one half mile),” she said. “We brief them in the beginning if they go further than that they have gone too far.”
She said the boundaries are hard-surfaced roads, and if they reach a black top road they have gone too far.
Sprader is described as an Asian male with brown hair and eyes who stands 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weighs 145 pounds and is wearing the Army Combat Uniform with an orange and yellow reflective vest.
Battaglia asked anyone spotting Sprader to call (254) 288-3088.
hclark@temple-telegram.com
