Arkansas Army National Guard officials were investigating Wednesday the death of a guardsman during annual training at the Fort Chaffee Joint Maneuver Training Center in western Arkansas.
Sgt. Sylvester B. Cline, 32, of Pine Bluff died about 6:15 p.m. Tuesday at Mercy Hospital in Fort Smith, according to a news release from the state Guard headquarters.
The official cause of death had not determined as of Wednesday and an investigation was ongoing, but the death was not the result of a weapon or vehicle accident, the news release said.
Cline's mother, Shirley Cline, said she learned of her son's death Tuesday night during a series of frantic calls to Mercy Hospital. She said an emergency room nurse confirmed her son's death.
Shirley Cline said three National Guard officials arrived at her home later, about 8 p.m., and told her that her son had died. A chaplain among the group told her Sylvester Cline died from heatstroke, she said.
Shirley Cline said an emergency room nurse told her during one of her calls to the hospital that other men had gone there for treatment of heat-related illnesses after training.
"He was in the 100-degree [plus] weather in Army fatigues and nobody was paying any attention to him and other men sweating and passing out," Cline said Wednesday evening from her home in Pine Bluff. "I'm just not satisfied with what I was told."
Tuesday's high temperature in the area was 94 degrees with a heat index of 104, according to the National Weather Service in Tulsa.
Joel Lynch, a public information officer with the Guard, confirmed that Sylvester Cline's unit was conducting tactical training at the center when he began experiencing difficulty.
"It was very hot and humid, but the hospital and coroner have not released their report yet that identifies the cause of death," Lynch wrote in an email late Wednesday afternoon.
Cline was among more than 1,300 soldiers from Arkansas' 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team undergoing annual training at the 65,000-acre Fort Chaffee center since June 4.
He was a member of Company A of the 39th Brigade Support Battalion, the release said, serving as a heavy-vehicle driver.
Cline enlisted in the Arkansas National Guard in 2002 and participated in a combat deployment to Iraq with the 39th Infantry Brigade in 2008. He was awarded the Iraq Campaign Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal among other awards and decorations, the release said.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones of Sgt. Cline and we will remember him as a defender of freedom," Arkansas' adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Mark Berry, said in the release. "I, just like more than 9,000 soldiers and airmen serving in the Arkansas National Guard, are deeply saddened by the loss of one of our own."
Cline grew up in Pine Bluff, attended Humphrey High School and worked as a maintenance worker in Pine Bluff. He is survived by five children, his mother and father, three sisters, a brother and other family members.
"He was always taking the children to ballgames," Shirley Cline said. "He was such a good daddy. 'Mr. Mom' is what I called him."
A memorial service has not been set. Burial is pending while awaiting an autopsy.
"He was a great father, a great uncle, a great son," Shirley Cline said. "Everybody respected him. He was a great provider."
State Desk on 06/16/2016