ANOTHER SOLDIER DIES

[saundra]

On excersie in the Brecon beacons
After 3soldiers died before
It's a tragedy dispite more health checks during the event

[Workingman]

Very sad.

It is a bit too early to tell, but physical exercise and heat look to be the culprits so far.

[Kaz]

Terrible, they have a duty of care to these recruits

[cromwell]

Hottest day of the year - it seems they have learned nothing from the last tragedy in identical circumstances just a couple of years since.

[Workingman]

Things are still not clear, but the early reports saying that he died on Tuesday "the hottest day of the year" were misleading and implied the weather was to blame.

Emergency services were called at 9 am, long before the heat of the day had become uncomfortable.

It now turns out that he had been on an eight mile - two hour forced hike at dawn on public roads carrying a 25Kg pack. That is not much quicker than normal walking pace, even with the pack, and should be a doddle for a fit young soldier.

I suppose that the post mortem will tell what happened.

[Suff]

That's known as a 10k bash and is a standard test which you are expected to be able to do at any time. You get 1hr 50 minutes to complete it and you have to do some physcal stuff at the end like carrying a colleague over your shoulders for 100m and getting into and out of a 4 ton truck without help. I always struggled with keeping up but was often stronger than the rest when I got to the end.

If it was 9am then it was done to avoid the heat of the day. Something they never considered in my day when we did these bashes in Germany. It is, after all, just a forced march not a run as such.

Clearly something was missed in his health. I was often called a slacker or a shirker becuase I had so much difficulty with the longer endurance stuff. Never mind that I beat almost everyone on track and field even 3st overweight. Turns out I have contstricted arteries and it's congenital. Not that anyone cared in the Army, shirker did them just fine.

The problem is we need fit and stron troops. The way to get them is to train hard. Hard training produces casuaties.

[Kate1933]

As mentioned, my brother was in the SAS, he rarely talked of his experiences to us females, however having walked on the Beacons,
To imagine that treck regardless of the weather and kit would have me and a good many others on their knees. Isn't this the third death of young men attempting the trek? I think placing these men's lives at risk is irresponsible .. I do not think there were too many hills in the countries where he was on active duty.

[saundra]

A total wast of a life Kate
Bet none of the bosses sat in the offices would attempt it
Probably never had any excersise since the enlisted

[Suff]

Actually all the officers below the rank of Major have to pass it at least once every 3 years. Every officer below the rank of General was serving when they had to pass it.

Yes rank hath it's privileges. However senior soldiers of any rank don't have to do this once they exceed 22 years. Almost all of the officers in the very senior ranks have been there more than 22 years so won't have to do this, the same as a private who has done more than 22 (rare but not unknown).

Yes it is a waste of a life. My main beef about it is the lack of medical analysis or real problems soldiers may have. Not lack of concern for the welfare of soldiers in general. When I was in they would think nothing of doing this in the full heat of the day. That has changed now and it's better. But some people make it into the service with health issues which go undetected. Then, when they try to keep up, some of them die. I never really tried hard enough otherwise I could have wound up just like this.

There are institutional attitudes but, when it's you and your team and a lot of flying bullets, everyone has to pull their weight. That comes from training.

The sad fact of life is that training has to be hard because war is a Darwinian experience. Training is supposed to weed out the unsuitable without killing them as would happen in combat. Sadly, sometimes training has the same effect.

You have to have lived it to understand it.

[Workingman]

Suff is right when it comes to the RAF as well.

The most senior ranks, Group Captain and up, must have completed pilot training, with all the physical and mental training that entailed, to take control of operational squadrons. Engineering and Medical officers etc. could reach high rank, but never take charge of squadrons or operational stations.

So, they might now have desk jobs, desk jockeys as we called them, but they did go through all the physical, mental and psychological training of the RAF's pilots.

We lower ranks never came near, our focus was on giving them the very best equipment for them to do their jobs. I cannot say for other countries, but in the UK the Top Brass have usually done the job.