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The troops were poisoned by the engine coolant ethylene glycol, which was in what they thought was an alcoholic beverage, Lt. Col. Allie Payne of the 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss, told reporters.
It wasn’t in a ready-to-eat meal (MRE) in their authorized food supply channels, authorities said.
The soldiers – a warrant officer, two non-commissioned officers and eight enlisted members -- were being treated at the William Beaumont Army Medical Center at the post, they said.
Fortunately, it wasn't enough to cause more serious damage, officials said.
Fort Bliss officials also have been in touch with their relatives, said Maj. Gen. Sean C. Bernabe, senior mission commander of 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss.
“We took immediate action to treat everyone involved with the best medical care available,” Bernabe said in a statement. “Our [l]eaders are engaged at every level to provide guidance, information, and care for their teammates."
Now comes an investigation to find out where the soldiers got the fluid.
It means more trouble for star-crossed Fort Bliss, one of the Defense Department’s top installations, which was established in 1848 near El Paso and covers 1.12 million acres of land in Texas and New Mexico – an area larger than Rhode Island.
The fort has been under a public health emergency since November following a COVID-19 outbreak among a group of Oregon Army National Guard soldiers who’d returned from Kosovo early last year.
Several deaths have also occurred in recent weeks.
Pfc. Asia M. Graham, 19, was found dead in her barracks room on New Year’s Eve.
Staff Sgt. John D.S. Bailey, 27, died at the base two weeks later. Two weeks after that, Sgt. 1st Class Dejaun K. Frazier, 43, was killed in a motorcycle crash. Three days after that, Kenmaj D. Graham, 21, was struck and killed while walking in El Paso.
Then there’s Private Richard Halliday, who was last seen leaving his barracks room last July 23 and was reported missing the following day.
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