Two soldiers from Saginaw’s National Guard unit in Buena Vista were  injured in a training accident at Fort Custer in Augusta, MI.

Confirmed to have happened last Friday (March 26th), Private Seth Young and Sergeant Joshua Rose were taken to a Kalamazoo area hospital after a tree downed by severe weather pinned them to the ground while setting up a patrol base in a training operation area.

Penny Carroll, Director of Communications for the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, says the two received immediate medical attention, but were still severely injured following the impact.

She adds unit medics helped keep Pvt. Young and Sgt. Rose stable and shielded from the weather while waiting for responders to remove the tree and take them to the hospital.

Pvt. Young joined the Army in 2018; completing Basic Training and Advanced Infantry Training at Georgia’s Fort Benning, before joining the national guard in 2019.

Sgt. Rose enlisted in 2015; completing Basic Training at Oklahoma’s Fort Sill before being assigned for 4 years to the 156th Expeditionary Signal Battalion in Howell.

He then joined the 1437th Engineers in Sault Saint Marie, where he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant before transferring to Saginaw this past october in preparation of Ranger school.

A GoFundMe with a goal of $25,000 has been established to help cover any additional medical and recovery costs while they remain in the hospital.