FORT DRUM, N.Y. — A company commander described by fellow officers as "promising" is in the hospital after being severely beaten and robbed at his own Easter egg hunt last week. Capt. Brandon Mitchell, commanding officer of Bravo Company, 1-32 Infantry, had organized the family gathering prior to the soldiers being released for a long Easter weekend, and is now in critical condition at Samaritan hospital in Watertown.

“I thought the men deserved a chance to unwind.” Mitchell told Duffel Blog from his bed, squinting through two black eyes. “We’d been training for a long time, and I thought it would be great to have the families all come together for some food and fellowship.”

“I decided to surprise the guys with a few kegs," he added. "The other commanders told me I was an idiot for allowing them to drink alcohol at a unit function, but I said that my men could be trusted.”

Sources within the company said that as soon as the kegs were placed on the floor, the soldiers fell upon them "like starving dogs on a rancid deer carcass." In less than thirty minutes the first two were empty, and those soldiers still sober enough to stand were fighting over what remained.