Blitzkreig of Another Sort

19 Fort Benning soldiers struck by lightning

A lightning strike sent 19 Fort Benning soldiers to the hospital Tuesday as a storm brought between 2 and 3 inches of rain to the area.

Most of the soldiers were treated and released from Martin Army Community Hospital, although four remained hospitalized overnight for observation.

The soldiers, who are in basic training, were on their last day of a field exercise and preparing to head back to their barracks because of the weather when they were spread out as part of a precaution against lightning, Fort Benning spokeswoman Monica Manganaro said.

"They had them ground their equipment so they weren't holding weapons," she said. "They did all the right things."

Eric Avila, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Peachtree City office, said Columbus set a new daily rainfall record for Aug. 16 of 2.25 inches — most of it between 4 and 5 p.m.

Unfortunate.