NC - Investigating Infant Deaths At Ft Bragg 9/1/10

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YellowSubmarine

YellowSubmarine

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FORT BRAGG -- Military investigators are looking into the unexplained deaths of 10 infants whose families lived in base housing.

There are no indications of foul play in any of the deaths, investigators say, but they are trying to determine whether there are any common factors among the cases. The deaths all took place since 2007, including two this year.

The investigation began about a month ago, when base officials realized that two babies had died three months apart last year after living in the same house at different times, said Brig. Gen. Michael Garrett, chief of staff of the 18th Airborne Corps.

A third child who lived in the house died in 2007.


http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/09/01/658151/infant-deaths-at-bragg-lead-to.html

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Investigators, meanwhile, are looking to determine whether environmental factors could have played a role in the infants' deaths. Grey said the investigation has considered everything from the presence of Chinese drywall in the homes to black mold, but has found evidence of neither.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hD_F7trFUfYA9F1I5TOebqqHzjZwD9HULI580
 
Good Lord! I certainly hope they get to the bottom of this. Ten infant deaths since 2007 is just too much. There was no indication of foul play, so I have to wonder if there is a common thread with a nurse or medical staff at Womack Army Hospital. I wonder if these babies were all born there. If it isn't the post housing, then it is something else, and medical would be the only thing I could think of other than day care they may have in common. Were they in day care at the post? SIDS could not have struck all 10 of these infants. SIDS would not strike this many infants in one concentrated area.

I do hope we have a followup on this story. I want to know.

*ETA: I do see that one infant was in off-base day care. Still, there is something very wrong here.
 
ITA LaLaw. I'm leaning toward it being environmental in some way. I wonder if that is a base that stores chemical weapons like mine does? Something is way off here and I'm glad they are looking into it. The part about 2 babies dying 3 months apart in the same house is extremely off the wall.
 
Because 3 of the babies died in the same house, I have to believe it is environmental. This also may have implications on other family members, even if it is not affecting them yet. Very scary!
 
Is there any possibility that the particular home where two babies died might have been an informal day care. I agree that the environmental issue has to be considered but I want to know more about the babies' health at birth (were they at risk infants?) and about their care and medical providers.

Concerning the environmental issue, I wonder if some substance might be on the parent's clothing which might make the babies sick through inhalation or skin contact.

And also considering corroded pipes, it would be helpful to know if they were they breast or formula fed babies?
 
This wasn't made clear in the first article, IMO:

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/08/ap-infant-deaths-fort-bragg-investigation-083110/

"...The probe began after investigators noted the deaths of two infants from different families in 2009 at the same address. The first child died in April of last year. Another family moved into the home after the death, and their infant died in July.

A third infant who lived at that address died in 2007, but the death is believed to have occurred at a baby-sitting service off the base...."

more at link
 
Definitely following this closely as my daughter lives on base in base housing with 2 babies.
 
Could it be something in the water that these babies couldn't take?
Like in the Paris island water problem..........had dry cleaning fluid dumped into the water supply years ago............
 
I had read about drywall being imported from China that is very toxic. I was also reading about some disreputable people using farm pesticides indoors to get rid of bedbugs. So many toxins and stupid greedy people. Babies don't deserve this, and I just ache for the loss and grief of the parents.
 
This is frightening, it sounds like something is poisoning these children.
 
I wonder if this housing has been privatized yet and whether these are older family quarters units or newly built units. I can see there being problems in either case -- problems left unfixed or cheap new materials.

There has got to be something wrong with the units in that area. I would move out immediately if I lived there. In fact, it surprises me that they haven't been evacuated to other housing while they investigate the problem. Ten babies dead???? Unheard of!!
 
I looked around the internet and didn't see any chatter from military wives at the usual spots.

We have our own boards, and usually you will see a lot of talking about things that concern us.

I did see in one article in MSM, that the chinese dry wall was ruled out.

In the one house where the multiple infants died over time. I wonder if it was old housing or new housing.

The reason I ask is that until privitized housing can build enough new housing, a lot of the military housing is unsat by civillian standards. Meaning it would be condemned if it were out in the civilian sector.

I had lived in a home one time that was condemned the day after we moved out of it when it given back to the Germans. (Was in Germany, early 90's).

I also want to know if the Active Duty Soldiers in each of those cases served in the same area (Combat operations) or were in close proximity to the same areas within the combat theater? For years, we had children born with birth defects after Desert Storm and there could never be found a common factor (a lot of sick soldiers too). A few years ago, a consensus was come to and yes there is such a thing as Desert Storm Syndrome.

I don't doubt for a moment though that the officials at Fort Bragg are really trying to figure this one out. The Army has changed it's stance over the past few decades. It's Family first now, because of the multitude of sacrifices our families have made to support their Soldier. Off Topic: As one Col put it (that I heard giving a briefing) "If Momma, ain't happy, we will lose our Soldier". "They will get out" "So make sure Momma is happy". Loved that guy!
 
Pinch poke steadfast we were posting at the same time LOL sorry.
 
Excellent articles Suzi! I'm heading off to read them.

I wanted to note also that "some" of the privatized housing is not up to par either. We have fairly new quarters here. (one other family lived in them before us). We've already had them out on 2 different occasions because the plumbing leaks---behind the walls---from the upstairs---to my downstairs LOL. Lordy.
 
Maybe if I would read the articles more carefully, I could answer my own questions before I ask them! (I jump in pretty fast if I think I see a problem caused by privatization, since I'm agin' it.) From the link in the OP:
For the past seven years, all base housing has been operated by Picerne Military Housing, a private contractor that also runs housing at Fort Meade, Fort Riley, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk and Aberdeen Proving Ground. John Shay, program manager for Picerne at Fort Bragg, said he knew of no similar investigations at any other bases.
Since Picerne took over Fort Bragg's housing, some of which dates to the 1920s, it has torn down and rebuilt or renovated thousands of homes.
Except for the three children associated with the same home, officials say, the babies who died had lived in nearly every kind of housing on post: new, old, some with major renovations and some with just cosmetic improvements. They came from different neighborhoods across the base. They were from 2 weeks to 8 months old.


Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/09/01/658151/infant-deaths-at-bragg-lead-to.html#ixzz0yKq7tH5T​
Click to expand...

Article says there are 18,000 residents in housing at Ft. Bragg. I wonder how many babies die in a three-year period in a town of 18,000? Of course, three unrelated ones in one house has GOT to be way out of the norm. They need to get to the bottom of this and raze that death unit to the ground!
 
I agree Steadfast, get rid of those set of quarters for sure!

You know, I can't remember where I read it, but a nurse (active duty) pointed it out to me one day. We were just chatting (we were acquainted and chit-chatting) and we were talking about the number of children who die that are military dependents.

She said that our numbers look skewed or elevated because of the demographics of our communities.

Demographically, most members of the Service are between ages 18-40 (with a few old timers like me and my Husband haha just a joke, not really!)

Those are the ages for child bearing years as well.

Makes sense. The article outlined why it appears our incidents of death in infants and children appear elevated by demographics. It was a print article and I'm not sure I could find it on the internet.

But that's a lot of infant deaths at fort bragg though! All JMHO.
 
You know, they might also want to look at the quality of care at the base hospital's pediatric clinic.
(I mean in addition to looking for environmental causes.)
 
They really need to look at the waterlines at that one house. And a big one, if the Moms were buying supplies at the same location.

Septic gas too. A silent killer.
 
Kat said:
I agree Steadfast, get rid of those set of quarters for sure!

You know, I can't remember where I read it, but a nurse (active duty) pointed it out to me one day. We were just chatting (we were acquainted and chit-chatting) and we were talking about the number of children who die that are military dependents.

She said that our numbers look skewed or elevated because of the demographics of our communities.

Demographically, most members of the Service are between ages 18-40 (with a few old timers like me and my Husband haha just a joke, not really!)

Those are the ages for child bearing years as well.

Makes sense. The article outlined why it appears our incidents of death in infants and children appear elevated by demographics. It was a print article and I'm not sure I could find it on the internet.

But that's a lot of infant deaths at fort bragg though! All JMHO.
Click to expand...

That does make sense, Kat. Most towns are not made up solely (except for a very few of us oldsters) of young families having babies right and left. Honestly, my husband's men (and women) are almost all constantly in some phase of baby having. I hadn't thought of that. Ft. Bragg is a massive base, too.
Still, three in one unit? I'm not even superstitious and I wouldn't let my grandchildren walk by the place!
 
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