19 Fort Benning soldiers struck by lightning

<p>A lightning strike sent 19 Fort Benning soldiers to the hospital Tuesday as a storm brought between 2 and 3 inches of rain to the area.</p><p>Most of the soldiers were treated and released from Martin Army Community Hospital, although four remained hospitalized overnight for observation.</p><p>The soldiers, who are in basic training, were on their last day of a field exercise and preparing to head back to their barracks because of the weather when they were spread out as part of a precaution against lightning, Fort Benning spokeswoman Monica Manganaro said.</p><p>"They had them ground their equipment so they weren't holding weapons," she said. "They did all the right things."</p><p>Eric Avila, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Peachtree City office, said Columbus set a new daily rainfall record for Aug. 16 of 2.25 inches _ most of it between 4 and 5 p.m.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cd9b04)</p>

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