Sweltering heat sends 18 Fort Bragg soldiers to hospital

FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Rehearsing for a ceremony in high humidity and temperatures up to 95 degrees sent 18 soldiers at Fort Bragg in North Carolina to the hospital.

Jose Colon, an 82nd Airborne Division public affairs officer at Fort Bragg, told news outlets the paratroopers were rehearsing for a change of command ceremony taking place later this week.

About 3,000 soldiers were standing in formation around 10 a.m. Monday morning when more than a dozen of them began to need medical attention for heat-related injuries. Colon said some may not have been well hydrated. The afflicted soldiers were taken to the base’s medical centre and all of them have since been released.