Soldier facing discipline after leaving training facility in military vehicle
A 22-year-old soldier in the Army Reserve likely will face internal discipline after driving a military vehicle off a training facility in Elwood and going roughly 50 miles north to a Walgreens in West Chicago, authorities said.
The soldier got into an argument with another soldier Sunday at the Joliet Training Area and then got behind the wheel of the 2013 Oshkosh military transport vehicle, Elwood police Chief Fred Hayes said.
"He was not authorized to use the vehicle," he said.
Weighing 2.5 tons, the vehicle is used to carry personnel and did not contain any weapons when the soldier drove it off the nearly 3,500-acre site where Reserve units train every weekend in Elwood, about 20 minutes outside Joliet, Hayes said.
"It's not like a true military base where you have control points," Hayes said.
Joliet Training Area officials called Elwood police at 11:34 a.m. Sunday for help locating the vehicle. Elwood police issued a "be on the lookout" alert with a description of the vehicle to other law enforcement agencies, Hayes said.
Police also asked the DuPage County Sheriff's office to check the soldier's home for the vehicle. Hayes was told he lives in West Chicago, but an Army Reserve spokesman couldn't immediately verify that.
The vehicle wasn't spotted until 2:30 p.m. Sunday, when a sheriff's deputy saw it parked in a Walgreens lot at Route 59 and Washington Street, Hayes said. The soldier was found sitting inside the vehicle, Hayes said, and his military supervisors retrieved it.
He will not face civilian charges, Hayes said.
A Walgreens employee said the soldier, dressed in uniform, had spent a few minutes in the store.
The soldier's commander has launched an investigation and will decide whether to discipline him, said Capt. Eric Connor, a U.S. Army Reserve spokesman. The inquiry could take two to three weeks and result in a variety of possible disciplinary actions, including extra duty or a demotion in rank, Connor said.
He is currently an Army specialist E-4, or one rank below a sergeant.