Around 1991, when he was leading the Houlung Coastal Defense Battalion in Miaoli County, Tsao received a wire alerting him that a young man on his national service had passed out from fatigue while on patrol next to a train track, got hit by a train, and hadn't got up.
1991 年左右，他在苗栗後龍海防營任營長，有天凌晨接到無線電通報，一名義務役士兵在鐵道旁巡邏時因精神不濟，被火車擦撞後倒地不起。