Georgia weather-related incident kills two Fort Benning soldiers, Army says

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A weather-related incident on north Georgia’s Yonah Mountain Tuesday evening killed two soldiers, and injured five other soldiers, Army officials said. 

A spokesperson for the U.S. Army told Atlanta’s FOX 5 that the two soldiers were part of the training program at the Maneuver Center of Excellence.

2nd Lt. Evan Fitzgibbon and Staff Sgt. George Taber, two U.S. Ranger candidates were struck and killed by a fallen tree during a thunderstorm in Dahlonega, Georgia Tuesday during a training exercise.

2nd Lt. Evan Fitzgibbon and Staff Sgt. George Taber died after being struck by lightening, the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

According to the Army, Fitzgibbon was an infantry officer and graduate of West Point who was commissioned in May 2021. 

Taber was a Special Forces Medical Sergeant assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. He had served in the Army since his enlistment in March 2017.

"Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the families, friends, and leadership of these two outstanding leaders who unexpectedly lost their lives in the pursuit of excellence," Army officials wrote in a press release.

Three other service members were also injured after a tree fell on them. They were immediately transported to an area hospital where two were treated for non-life threatening injuries and one remained stable under medical care.

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The Army conducts training on Yonah Mountain including the Ranger School's Mountain Phase. Soldiers who train on the mountain typically will report out of Camp Merrill in the northern part of the state.

Yonah Mountain is about 70 miles northeast of Atlanta and 170 miles northeast of Fort Benning.

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This is the second deadly incident involving soldiers stationed in Georgia in the past month. In late July, Sgt. 1st Class Michael D. Clark was killed by a lightning strike at Fort Gordon near Augusta. Nine other soldiers were also injured in the incident.