U.S. soldier dies during training incident in Hungary, Army says

A U.S. soldier died during a training incident in Hungary, the Army said Saturday in a news release. 

Sgt. Aaron Cox, 24, of Mabank, Texas, died Thursday near Camp Croft, Hungary, during preparations for the upcoming Exercise Saber Guardian 25. The Army said Cox died as a result of wounds from a vehicle accident, but didn’t provide further details. 

Cox joined the Army in 2021, and this was his second deployment. He previously deployed to Poland in 2022. He was an Infantryman assigned to the “Strike” 2nd Mobile Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). 

“The loss of Sgt. Cox is a tragedy for all of us on the Strike team,” said, Col. Duke Reim, commander, 2MBCT, 101st Airborne Div. “He was a strong Soldier and leader, who quickly rose through the ranks while serving.” He also thanked the Hungarian allies for their assistance and support to the soldiers. 

Reim said an investigation into the accident is ongoing.

A similar tragedy occurred a few months prior when four U.S. soldiers died in March in Lithuania after they went missing while conducting a mission to repair and tow an immobilized tactical vehicle. The soldiers were on a training exercise at the massive General Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in the town of Pabradė. Their vehicle was reported missing  the following morning, the U.S. Army said, and was then found the next day by the Army and Lithuanian authorities.

It took more than a week to remove their submerged armored recovery vehicle from a peat bog. Thick mud and soft ground around the site made it a complicated recovery effort, the Army said. It required specialized equipment to drain water from the side and “stabilize the ground,” to pull the 70-ton vehicle ashore.

Hundreds of service members from the Army, Navy and the militaries of Lithuania and Poland helped in the effort to bring the 63-ton M88A2 Hercules armored recovery vehicle to the surface, the command said. 

The Associated Press and

Alex Sundby

contributed to this report.