NCO blamed for accident that killed nine soldiers at Fort Hood

Having spent 8 years on Fort Hood, I can say a few things about this. First, everyone knows about the flash flooding areas and the water crossing issues. Second; the storm had been going for days, even the village idiot living in the Sahara Desert should know to be wary of flooding even without warnings. Third; when learning drivers training, the SSG was almost assuredly taught water crossing techniques, and the first thing they teach is slow moving water only and not during bad weather conditions.
The SSG made several bad decisions, the first was getting off main roads during such weather conditions, the seconds was attempting a water crossing under any conditions other than slow moving or still water, and third he apparently ignored the advice of others and possibly orders.
Is the SSG the sole source for blame, I don't think so. All such roads should have been closed. Should the driver have refused the order? (almost certainly, though we all know how difficult for a new PVT to stand up to a SSG would be, simply refusing could have brought him to his senses) and the PVT should then have been backed up by other NCOs or officers in the small convoy.
No amount of training can replace common sense, and in my opinion this comes down to failure to utilize that common sense rather than a lack of training, we are all guilty of lacking common sense at times. To blame the SSG is mabey not the answer, he paid a steep price for his mistake. Let us pray for the tragic loss, and hope that others learn from this example. While I am sure a great deal of remedial training will occur due to this, I believe the real training needed here is for leaders to understand that when given advice, sometimes we need to stop and listen despite what we personally want to do.

Having spent me entire career at Ft. Hood, I can say that while we never crossed creeks during serious rain fall; we were also never informed of the Hazards. I took it upon myself to know where the flood crossing were and made sure everyone in my unit knew them also. Regardless as to who is in charge, anyone of any rank can refuse to perform anything unsafe that may cause harm.

As well he should have been. I saw that from the second I read the accounts of the accident. This was one ignorant NCO, and eight others paid dearly for it!!!