The soldiers are experiencing ethylene glycol poisoning,” Lt. Col. Allie Payne, a spokesperson for Fort Bliss’ 1st Armored Division, said during a media briefing Friday afternoon.
Ethylene glycol can be found in consumer products such as antifreeze and hydraulic brake fluid.
A couple of the soldiers recorded in critical illness have improved but remain critically ill in the intensive care unit,” Payne said.
The incident happened on the last afternoon of a 10-day field training exercise on Fort Bliss’ McGregor Range complicated. The soldiers believed they had been drinking an alcoholic drink, Payne said.
Army private are banned from drinking alcoholic beverages while on duty and while in a practice environment. The U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Command is exploring the way the soldiers arrived to ingest the material and if there ought to be any disciplinary action,” Payne said.
The Fort Bliss’ 1st Armored Division originally explained the soldiers became ill after eating an”unidentified substance,” based on some announcement published Thursday. Within an upgrade Friday morningofficials explained the material as”obtained out of food distribution distribution stations.”
“The conditions of how the Soldiers consumed the material are under evaluation by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (USACIDC). There’s absolutely no reason to think there’s a danger to the larger Fort Bliss community,” Fort Bliss’ 1st Armored Division said in a statement Friday night. “The Fort Bliss senior commander has also led an administrative evaluation to ascertain the facts and conditions that resulted in yesterday’s events”
The 1st Armored Division — also called”Old Ironsides”– is an famous armored division, comprising roughly 17,000 highly trained soldiers, according to the Army’s site .
