A forensic examination was underway today on an American soldier found dead at a military training camp in Lopburi province.
Maj. Andrew Cotter, an officer with an army artillery unit in Thailand for an annual joint military exercise, was found dead in a bathtub this week with a wound to his head at the 31st Infantry Regiment in Lopburi city.
Police did not suspect foul play and speculate that Cotter fainted and hit his head.
Tuesday marked the start of the 42nd Cobra Gold, a multinational combined arms exercise, and its first full-scale edition since before the pandemic. It continues through March 10.
Cotter was among thousands of U.S. troops joining the exercises taking place in four provinces – Chanthaburi, Sa Kaeo, Rayong, and Lopburi – alongside soldiers from Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia. China is among nations participating in humanitarian exercises.
The exercise began in 1982. One of its most famous bonding rituals, in which soldier bros line up to lap up blood from a decapitated snake, was discarded in 2021.
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