Fort Leonard Wood

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo -- An EF-3 Tornado came through around 9:30 am New Year's Eve morning. The sirens went off, people were notified quickly, and luckily only two minor injuries were reported. General David Phillips says it was the best possible scenario for a tornado to hit because many people had gone home for the holidays. As far as the damage is concerned, about 12 homes were completely destroyed. Home built during the World War II era were also damaged. They were a part of the World War II musuem on the post.

WAYNESVILLE, Mo. -- A military service member stationed at Fort Leonard Wood was hospitalized on Monday after breaking into the off-post home of his commanding officer.  Pulaski County Sheriff J.B. King says the burglar suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and contemplated suicide. A neighbor of the commanding officer called the sheriff's department about 3:45 p.m. Monday to report the burglary at the home on Rhyme Lane off Missouri 17 north of Waynesville.  Deputies found the burglar had broken a window to get inside.

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- More than a thousand members of the civilian community and business community gathered Tuesday for an Army listening session at Fort Leonard Wood in advance of Army troop reductions. Lt. Col. Patricia Tilson is part of the Army panel traveling to bases across the country to hear of potential impacts of proposed military cuts.  She says this is the panel's fourth stop after hearings at Ft. Riley, Ft. Sill, and Ft. Carson. "This tonight is by far the best attended.  What a great turnout.

FORT LEONARD WOOD. Mo. -- A man accidentally shot himself in the leg with his own gun on Fort Leonard Wood on Friday afternoon. It happened at the post commissary. The 72-year old man was taken by ambulance to the community hospital on the post.  Nobody else was hurt. Officials say he was carrying a concealed weapon he had not registered with Fort Leonard Wood.  No word yet on if he could be in trouble for carrying the unauthorized gun.

A unit of soldiers from Fort Leonard Wood will head to Afghanistan Monday. The 55th Mobility Augmentation Company will leave from the Springfield-Branson National Airport's old terminal at 7:30 Monday night. The group of more than 75 soldiers will help clear roads and support other Army soldiers in the war-torn region. The 55th MAC company will be in Afghanistan for at least one year.

MOUNTAINBURG, Ark. -- An Army Humvee from Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., was in a minor accident on Interstate 540 on Tuesday morning about 10:30.  An Army spokeswoman says two soldiers have minor, non-life threatening injuries. Soldiers from the 94th Engineer Battalion, 4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade were on their way from Forth Chaffee, Ark., to Fort Leonard Wood.  A silver passenger car ran into the Humvee, which was the rear vehicle in the brigade's convoy. A medical helicopter took a soldier to a hospital in Fort Smith.

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. –- The fire that started early Sunday afternoon was still burning in several small spots on Tuesday.   Fire Chief Jeffrey Sukalski says about 60 personnel were fighting the fire on Tuesday morning, along with six dozers from several Leonard Wood units assisting.  Fort Leonard Wood's Fire Department established an incident command post and reports the fire is well under control but, due to the nature of the fire, the areas surrounding the fort will be smoky for several more days.

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- Separate accidents on Wednesday killed one person, and sent six others to hospitals for treatment.  A spokesman for the fort says four Army civilians were conducting railroad maintenance when they were injured.  One died at the scene, three others were taken to hospitals in Springfield and Rolla.  The Army's Criminal Investigation Command is investigating that accident. Separately, a spokeswoman for the Missouri National Guard says three of its soldiers were hurt when they suffered an electrical shock while working with a tactical antenna during a training exercise.  They are recovering at hospitals at Fort Leonard Wood and in Springfield.  The soldiers are members of the 135th Signal Company out of the Kansas City area.

At 11:30 Friday morning, the body of Private First Class Matthew England from Ozark County, Missouri, returned home. Iowa Avenue at Fort Leonard Wood was lined with soliders and cilivians paying tribute to PFC England.  If they weren't holding a flag, they were dressed in fatigues.    A long row down a road - saying good-bye to someone they never knew. "It's just a small token of respect for our soldiers who put their life on the line for our independence," Brian Raymond who came to watch the motorcade said.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A soldier stationed at Ft. Leonard Wood received a 15-year federal prison sentence on Thursday for producing child pornography.   Lawrence Ellrick, 36, also will be on supervised release for the rest of his life after he leaves prison. Last Dec. 15, Ellrick pleaded guilty to the sexual exploitation of a child.  Ellrick admitted he used a minor (identified as Jane Doe) to produce child pornography between Jan. 1 and May 31, 2010. Ellrick forfeited to the government a computer hard drive, a laptop computer, a desktop computer and a digital camera, all of which were used to commit the offenses.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -  The Mrs. United States crown now resides in the Ozarks. Congratulations to Mrs. Aquillia Vang, who beat out 54 married women in Las Vegas to earn the title.  The mother of four lives in Waynesville, Missouri and works as a nurse.  Her husband is stationed in the Army at Fort Leonard Wood.   Founded in 1986, the pageant stresses good morals, physical fitness, communication skills and community involvement.  It falls under...

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- The prospect of planes without pilots patrolling U.S. skies by the end of this decade is sparking a round of anxiety about Big Brother peering into backyards.   We wanted to see how these drones are being used in Missouri right now. An area of Fort Leonard Wood looks like a foreign war zone.  Signs are written in Arabic; twisted metal is all around, and planes without pilots are in the air.  Soldiers peer into shaded...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A soldier stationed at Ft. Leonard Wood received a 15-year federal prison sentence on Thursday for producing child pornography.   Lawrence Ellrick, 36, also will be on supervised release for the rest of his life after he leaves prison. Last Dec. 15, Ellrick pleaded guilty to the sexual exploitation of a child.  Ellrick admitted he used a minor (identified as Jane Doe) to produce child pornography between Jan. 1 and May 31, 2010. Ellrick forfeited to the government a computer hard drive, a laptop computer, a desktop computer and a digital camera, all of which were used to commit the offenses.

FORT LEONARD WOOD -- The man from Grove, Oklahoma, charged with taking Missouri troopers on a chase through Fort Leonard Wood will go to prison. Cody Wilcoxson will serve two, 30-year sentences for the chase that ran from Fort Leonard Wood to Rolla in May 2011.  The sentences will run concurrently. The chase had speeds topping 100-miles per hour while Wilcoxson shot at least 90 rounds at officers. Wilcoxson has yet to stand trial in Phelps County, where he faces similar charges.

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- An Army engineering company returned to the Ozarks Wednesday afternoon after spending the last year in Afghanistan.  Members of the 509th from Fort Leonard Wood arrived back at the old Springfield Branson national airport. There will be a welcome home ceremony for the soldiers tonight at Fort Wood.  The company was responsible for clearing routes in Afghanistan.  The 509th was previously deployed three times to support the war in Iraq.

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- Separate accidents on Wednesday killed one person, and sent six others to hospitals for treatment.  A spokesman for the fort says four Army civilians were conducting railroad maintenance when they were injured.  One died at the scene, three others were taken to hospitals in Springfield and Rolla.  The Army's Criminal Investigation Command is investigating that accident. Separately, a spokeswoman for the Missouri National Guard says three of its soldiers were hurt when they suffered an electrical shock while working with a tactical antenna during a training exercise.  They are recovering at hospitals at Fort Leonard Wood and in Springfield.  The soldiers are members of the 135th Signal Company out of the Kansas City area.

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- The Department of Army civilian employee who died at the scene of an accident on Wednesday was Louis Stallings of Atoka, Okla.   Stallings, 45, was a railroad maintenance vehicle operator for McAlester Army Ammunition Plant in McAlester, Okla., and was conducting maintenance on Fort Leonard Wood's railroad spur when the accident occurred. Circumstances surrounding the incident are still under investigation by the Army's Criminal Investigation Command.  A safety investigation is also underway by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- Soldiers from the US and nine other countries are meeting this week at Fort Leonard Wood to talk about the evolving threat of improvised explosive devices. Route clearance equipment used by US forces are also on display.

WAYNESVILLE, Mo.-- Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Hillmans, says he has been ordered to active duty in the Missouri Army National Guard beginning in early May for a deployment to Kuwait later this summer.  Mr. Hillman serves as the Command Judge Advocate for the 35th Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB).  The 35th CAB has been ordered to active duty with training at Fort Leonard Wood, Fort Hood, and then deployment to Kuwait for approximately nine months. “As a member of the National Guard, I have always had a contingency plan in place in case this happened,” said Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Hillman.

WAYNESVILLE, MO - A former Fort Leonard Wood soldier was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison for the shooting death of her husband.  Stacy Powell pleaded guilty in March to voluntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the shooting death of Brian Powell in 2008, while he was home on leave.   The couple was in the process of getting a divorce.  Powell was originally charged with first degree murder, but the charges were reduced under a...