When Staff Sgt. Andrew Marrow fell asleep at the wheel of the military truck he was driving on Fort Jackson on Oct. 6, 2017, he was awoken not by the truck plowing into a group of recruits, but by the screams that followed.

At times choking back tears, Marrow testified in military court on Monday about the events leading up to the deadly crash and the grisly scene he saw when he exited the truck. The drill sergeant pleaded guilty to two counts of negligent homicide and one count of dereliction of duty in the deadly crash that killed two young soldiers and injured six others.

"I was tired from being in the sun all day and having four hours of sleep," he said Monday.

He faces up to 7.5 years in prison and dishonorable discharge. A judge is hearing from witnesses before imposing a sentence.

Sgt. 1st Class Sean Embler, from the company for which Marrow was driving at the time called him "an excellent drill sergeant."

The crash killed 19-year-old Pvt. Ethan Shrader and 18-year-old Pvt. Timothy Ashcraft.

This article is written by Teddy Kulmala from The State and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.