Tragedy at Owl Creek: Father of Drowned Fort Hood Soldier Struggles to Understand Disaster That Killed Nine

SAN ANGELO — The metal dog tags lay on the kitchen table in front of Ricky DeLeon, stamped with the name of his son, Isaac. He keeps the tags close to him because Isaac wore them next to his heart. A heart he says that was almost too big for his boy’s 5-foot-4-inch frame.Isaac Lee DeLeon was a 19-year-old Army private just one year out of high school when he died at Fort Hood on June 2, 2016, one of nine soldiers drowned when a military transport truck overturned in a flooded low-water crossing. The accident ranks among the worst training mishaps in the history of the Central Texas post.Beside Isaac’s dog tags on the kitchen table is something else the Army gave Ricky DeLeon, a thick blue binder containing the results of an investigation into his son’s death. The Army has not yet publicly released the results, but Ricky DeLeon agreed to share them with The Dallas Morning News. A second safety investigation by the Army Combat Readiness Center, in Fort Rucker, Ala., also has been completed but not released.  Continue reading...