Two Drill Sergeants Found Dead Less Than 10 Days Apart at South Carolina’s Fort Jackson Army Base 

For the second time in nearly two weeks, a drill sergeant was found dead at the Fort Jackson Army Base in Columbia, South Carolina, the Army announced Monday. 

According to an Army news release obtained by American Military News, the body of Staff Sgt. Zachary Melton, 30, was discovered on Saturday after he failed to show up for work. Peers later found him unresponsive in his car. 

The Directorate of Emergency Services was called, and Emergency Medical Services personnel pronounced Melton dead, according to the press release. 

Melton’s death follows the death of Staff Sgt. Allen Burtram, 34,  who was also found dead at the Army base on Dec. 8. 

An investigation into the circumstances of Burtram’s death conducted by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division is ongoing. But Army officials said that there is no suspected foul play involved in Burtram’s death, per American Military News.

The cause of both deaths is still unknown to the public, according to reporting from CBS affiliate News19.

There has been no information regarding if foul play was suspected in Melton’s death, per Army officials, and there is no recent information connecting the recent deaths of the drill sergeants. 

Melton and Burtram were not the only soldiers to have died at the base this year. In June, Army Sgt. Jaime Contreras died while participating in a training exercise at Fort Jackson, which is the nation’s largest military basic training base.