3rd recruit dies in last month at Fort Jackson while training

The fallen soldiers were assigned to different training battalions and appear to have died of different causes, Jones added.

Pvt. Derryl Britt, 20, of Durham, N.C., suffered a brain hemorrhage after complaining of dizziness and exhaustion while exercising. Britt died four days after the Sept. 23 incident.

Pvt. Dominique Gibson-Brooks, 19, of Houston, died Sept. 25, after she was found on the barracks floor suffering a seizure.

Rosser’s death remains under investigation, Jones said.

Rosser, who was scheduled to graduate from basic training on Friday, collapsed during the two-mile run portion of the Army physical fitness test.

She had been running for about 20 minutes and “began to show signs of physical distress,” the Army said.

When paramedics arrived at the training site, Rosser was conscious and able to sit up, the Army said. While being treated, she became unresponsive and stopped breathing.

Paramedics performed CPR, and the soldier was taken to Providence Hospital where she died.

Deaths of U.S. military personnel in basic training are rare, according to medical research.

One study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that 276 of 6.3 million recruits died during basic training from 1977 to 2001. About 70 percent of deaths were from natural causes.

The mortality rate of military recruits was less than half of that for the same age group of civilians, the study added.

Fort Jackson trains about 50,000 soldiers a year. About half of all soldiers and 70 percent of women entering the Army each year receive their basic training at the Columbia post.

Reach Crumbo at (803) 771-8503.