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Soldier Dies In Training Accident

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By RONNIE BLAIR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 27, 2007

LAND O' LAKES - Sgt. Scott R. Turner didn't join the Army straight out of high school the way one of his younger brothers did.

Instead, after graduating from Land O' Lakes High in 1995, Turner stayed in the area and found a job.

By summer 2001, though, he was looking for something more.

Turner's brother Craig, who had been in the Army for about four years by then, suggested the military might be the answer.

'He was working a dead-end job here,' Craig Turner, 28, said Friday. 'I convinced him there was a better way.'
Scott Turner enlisted in June of that year. He was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division and served a tour of duty in Iraq. His latest mission, though, was helping train small teams headed for Iraq and Afghanistan.

During a training exercise at Fort Riley, Kan., this week, Turner, 30, was fatally injured. He died Wednesday when a Humvee rolled over on the Fort Riley maneuver area, the Army said.

'He went doing what he loved and serving our country,' Craig Turner said.

Turner, an M1 armor crewman, was serving as a transition-team trainer at Fort Riley at the time of his death.

Transition-team training is a 60-day training cycle designed to prepare small teams of soldiers, airmen and sailors to advise, teach, mentor and coach their Iraqi or Afghan counterparts, according to a Fort Riley statement.

Most of Turner's family, including his parents and brothers, still live in Pasco County.

The Army seemed to agree with him, said Craig Turner, who took medical retirement after 10 years in the military.

'He loved it,' the brother said. 'He just re-enlisted last year for another six years.'
Craig Turner described his brother as a 'kind of wild man' who enjoyed life.

'He used to race dirt bikes,' Craig Turner said. 'He just won his first race Sunday.'

That race was held in the Topeka, Kan., area, which is about 60 miles from Fort Riley.

A memorial service is planned for Wednesday at Fort Riley.

Turner is survived by his wife, Aimee, of Fort Riley.

Other survivors include his parents, Robert and Sharon Turner of Land O' Lakes; brothers Craig Turner of Land O' Lakes and Dean Turner of New Port Richey; paternal grandparents, Robert and Julia Turner of Crystal River; and maternal grandparents, Norman and Evelyn Belanger of New Port Richey.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

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