Isle soldier shoots leg
in training in Texas

The guardsman is
in good condition after
the live-fire accident

A Hawaii Army National Guard soldier has been hospitalized after he accidentally shot himself in the leg during urban-assault training this week in Texas.

Maj. Chuck Anthony, Hawaii National Guard spokesman, declined to identify the 29th Infantry Brigade soldier yesterday except to say he was a member of Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 299th Infantry. The soldiers of Delta Company are from Oahu and drill from an armory in Wahiawa.

Anthony said the soldier was in "good condition" after he shot himself in the left leg on Monday during a live-fire exercise at Fort Bliss's urban warfare training site, where the soldiers are learning how to enter and clear rooms.

Anthony said this is the only training accident since the 29th Brigade left Hawaii on Oct. 2.

Anthony said the soldiers' training hours are long and that their first major break will come Dec. 20, when they will be given a two-week leave to return home for the holidays.

After the Christmas holiday, the 29th Brigade will be sent to Louisiana's Fort Polk for a month of final evaluations and combat certification before deploying to Iraq for a year.

Members of the 100th Battalion, 422nd Infantry -- one of three battalions assigned to the 29th Brigade -- have said their "typical day" begins at 5 a.m., followed by physical training and breakfast before they head to the fields. Depending on the training schedule, the soldiers might be away from their base camp until midnight.

More than 2,200 members of the 29th Brigade are from Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa and Saipan. Many of them, like members of the 100th Battalion, are housed at Forward Operating Base McGregor in New Mexico, about 30 miles north of the main installations of Fort Bliss.