Aggie and Utah National Guard Soldier Dies During Training Exercise

Staff Sgt. Paul Lincoln Olmstead, a National Guard soldier from Utah died on Tuesday, Sept. 21, at 29-years old.

During a water training exercise at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, Olmstead went underwater at Joe Swing Park Reservoir to conduct a surface swim and never came back up.

His body was found on Wednesday morning as the incident continues to be under investigation.

Fort Campbell emergency medical services pronounced Olmstead dead after he was found and transported to Blanchfield Army Community Hospital.

Col. Paul Peters, Commander, 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) spoke to ABC4 news and said, “This is an absolute tragedy, especially when we lose someone as capable and promising as Lincoln. Sometimes we expect this sort of thing in combat, but not during training, which makes this difficult for the unit and especially the family.”

Olmstead was a part of Bravo Company, 1st battalion and left behind a wife and two children.

According to the release, he was born in Springville and graduated from North Sanpete High School in 2010. He was also working towards a degree in mechanical engineering from Utah State University and had accumulated over 100 credit hours.

Olmstead joined the Utah Army National Guard at the beginning of 2016 and has served as a Special Forces engineer sergeant since 2019.

He has received multiple awards within his time serving including the Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal, Army Achievement Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, and a National Defense Service Ribbon.

Utah National Guard adjutant general Maj. Gen. Michael Turley spoke in the release and said,

“While training accidents like this are rare, it is a reminder of the enormous sacrifices made by our service members and their families every day.”