A vehicle rollover at Fort Polk, Louisiana’s Joint Readiness Training Center on Wednesday left one civil affairs soldier dead and a dozen others injured, according to a release from 1st Special Forces Command.
Staff Sgt. Jacob Hess, 34, was assigned to the 97th Civil Affairs Battalion, 95th Civil Affairs Brigade, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the release said.
“Jacob was a talented noncommissioned officer and dedicated member of the brigade," his commander, Col. Charles Burnett, said in the release. “He will be greatly missed by those who had the great fortune and opportunity to know him.”
The accident involved a rolled Humvee, Fort Polk spokeswoman Kim Reischling confirmed to Army Times. A Marine was killed in a similar incident at Camp Pendleton, California, on May 9.
The injured soldiers are members of the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade, 7th Special Forces Group at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and the 72nd Military Police Company with the Nevada Army National Guard in Las Vegas.
The Army Combat Readiness Center is investigating the incident.
RELATED
Hess enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2004, according to the release, where he spent a year before going on active duty and serving as a heavy equipment operator with the 82nd Airborne Division. He reclassified to Civil Affairs in 2013 and had served with the 97th Civil Affairs Battalion since.
His awards and decorations include four Army Commendation Medals, six Army Achievement Medals, two Iraq Campaign Medals and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
