DEATH ON DUTY
TRAINING FOR THE ARMED FORCES IS TOUGH - AND SOMETIMES FATAL
ATOTAL of 141 members of the armed forces have died during military training since the year 2000. Military training is undertaken by new and current members of the armed forces, and is intended to establish and build on vital skills necessary for survival.
The 141 deaths have taken place over a 17-year period, according to figures released by the Ministry of Defence.
The most recent incident involved two people who were killed in 2017 from injuries sustained during livefire training. Armed services usually use live-fire exercises as an opportunity to use real ammunition. Some 106 of the total deaths were from injuries sustained during training, while a further 26 were from “disease-related conditions”. This includes heartrelated problems such as coronary artery disease that may have contributed to deaths. There are seven people whose cause of death remains unknown.
The highest number of deaths while training - 94 - occurred in the Army.
Some 24 of the people who died were in the Royal Marines and Royal Navy, while 23 were in the Royal Air Force.
Aircraft accidents were responsible for 29 of the total deaths - or more than a fifth.
Nineteen were caused by land transport accidents, and 15 during live fire training.
Nine people died while climbing, caving or mountaineering, and eight died in parachuting accidents.
Seven people died in diving and snorkelling incidents - and a further six died during kayaking, canoeing, rafting and yachting exercises.
There were five deaths accounted for by heat injuries including three men who died after an SAS training march in the Brecon Beacons.
Some 128 trained personnel died, while 13 were class as “untrained”.
Untrained members of the armed forces include new entries learning basic military skills.
Five of those untrained people were under the age of 18 at the time of their deaths.
Members of the armed forces that died during training have included both regulars and reserves. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “Thankfully, deaths in training are very rare. “Risk is inherent in many activities carried out by the armed forces and they need to train hard to be an effective fighting force, but strict safety procedures and rigorous analysis ensure risk is as low as possible during training.” Every safety-related death is investigated by an independent Service Inquiry (SI) panel supported by the defence Accident Investigation Branch (AIB).