A 20-year-old Fort Moore trainee died Jan. 8 in a “non-training-related incident” on the Georgia Army post about three weeks before he was expected to graduate from the service’s infantry entrance training, base officials said. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)
ATLANTA — A 20-year-old Fort Moore trainee died in a “non-training-related incident” on the Georgia Army post about three weeks before he was expected to graduate from the service’s infantry entrance training, base officials said.
Pfc. McCallaster Foley of Alden, Iowa, died Jan. 8 after he was treated by drill sergeants and emergency responders at the scene of the incident in his training company’s living area, according to a statement from Fort Moore. He was transferred to the installation’s Martin Army Community Hospital where he was pronounced dead, officials said.
The Fort Moore officials declined to provide further information about Foley’s death, citing an ongoing investigation into the incident.
Foley was on pace to graduate with his unit from the Army’s Infantry One State Unit Training, or OSUT, course on Jan. 31. OSUT combines the Army’s basic military training and advanced training into a single 22-week infantry training course. Graduates then move into the service as 11B infantrymen or 11C mortarman.
Fort Moore officials said Foley had enlisted in the Army in April 2024 and committed to at least four years in the service.
Pfc. McCallaster Foley of Alden, Iowa, is seen in uniform in this undated photo. A Fort Moore trainee, Foley died in a “non-training-related incident” about three weeks before he was expected to graduate from the service’s infantry entrance training. (Foley family)
McCallaster was a 2022 graduate from Iowa Falls-Alden High School in Iowa, according to his obituary. He then completed some coursework at Des Moines Area Community College in Iowa before pursuing his “unwavering passion to serve” in the military, the obit reads.
“McCallaster had an adventurous, charismatic spirit that brought us all many smiles and laughs from the time he was very little,” his family wrote in the obituary. “He was beloved by those who had the honor of knowing him. He was a protector, passionate, genuine, humorous, determined, heartfelt, was always looking out for others, always willing to help, he loved big and gave the best hugs.”
Foley was passionate about “scuba diving, weightlifting, snowboarding, constructing zip lines, helping on the farm, riding his motorcycle, assembling Legos, shooting guns and so much more,” his family wrote.
He is survived by his mother, father and three sisters, they said.
The Fort Moore community was “deeply saddened” by Foley’s lost, said Capt. Rachel Hilb, who served as Foley’s OSUT company commander in Fort Moore’s 198th Infantry Brigade.
“This young man was not just a soldier in training, he was a member of our battalion family,” Hilb said in a prepared statement.
