Army Reserve Spc. Calyn McLemore was found dead Friday evening after he went missing during land navigation training at Camp Blanding, Florida.
He was found in a wooded area of the installation, officials said. The cause of death wasn’t immediately determined and an investigation has begun, according to a post on the Clay County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.
“This now becomes an undetermined death investigation,” officials said on the post announcing McLemore’s death. No foul play was suspected, they said.
McLemore was attending the Basic Leader Course at Camp Blanding’s 211th Regiment Regional Training Institute.
After the soldier from Alabama went missing on Wednesday, a widespread manhunt was underway at Camp Blanding, with about 450 military, police and civilian men and women participating from several agencies.
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They had found some of his gear during the search, including a tool used to find navigation points, according to a report in the Florida Times-Union. The searchers focused on a 1,000-acre area near that point, and elsewhere on the 70,000-acre installation.
Recent heavy rain in the swampy area contributed to areas of deep water that may be chest high, said Sgt. Keith Smith of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office.
Intense heat, rough terrain and the wildlife in the area were all concerns for the safety of McLemore and the searchers, Smith said.
(Note: The spelling of the soldier’s name has been corrected from an earlier report.)
Kathleen Curthoys is editor of Army Times. She has been an editor at Military Times for 20 years, covering issues that affect service members. She previously worked as an editor and staff writer at newspapers in Columbus, Georgia; Huntsville, Alabama; Bloomington, Indiana; Monterey, California and in Germany.
