The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Training death soldier ‘super fit’
Scots ‘beautiful grandson’ died on hottest day of the year in Brecon exercise
A soldier who died in Brecon while on a training exercise has been described by his family as a “beautiful grandson” and a “superfit boy”.
Josh Hoole, from Ecclefechan near Lockerbie in Scotland, was amember of The Rifles regiment.
The 26- year- old, who died on Tuesday, was on pre-course training for the Platoon Sergeants’ Battle Course, which is described as “both mentally and physically demanding”.
His grandfather, John Craig, said:“Hewas a beautiful grandson.
“He was a dedicated soldier. He always wanted to be top dog. Hewas a superfit boy, he kept very fit.”
The incident happened at around 6.30am, Mr Craig said. Tuesday was the hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures peaking just above 30C (86F) in Brecon.
CorporalHoole, whowas based at the Infantry Training Centre in Catterick, North Yorkshire, had done two tours of Afghanistan and been to Iraq.
Corporal Hoole's death follows those of three soldiers who were taking part in an SAS training exercise in the Brecon Beacons on one of the hottest days of 2013. The Ministry of Defence will carryout a full investigation into the latest death, Defence Minister Harriett Baldwin said.
She told the House of Commons Defence Committee that she wanted to express her sorrow at the “very sad death”.
The Platoon Sergeants’ BattleCourseis takenbyinfantry soldiers who want to progress to the rank of sergeant. The course is run three times a year, with the next one set to take place in August.
Most soldiers take part in organised, and sometimes independent, pre-course training which can involve marching long distances carrying weight, and digging trenches.
Captain Doug Beattie, who has taken the course and runs pre-courses, said it is tough, and needs to be so.
He said: “It needs to be demanding and I don’t think there should be any call that it shouldn’t be demanding, I don’t think anybody would want that.
“But being a demanding exercisedoesnotmeanthat you do not do your risk assessments and take all precautions so that people don’t get injured in doing that. We cannot speculate in this case and need to waitandseewhatthe cause was.”
MPJohnnyMercer, a former Army officer, said the Defence Committee would look into the incident, which comes three months after it published a report calling for the MoD to be liable for prosecution for the deaths of armed forces personnel during training.
The committee found that, since the start of 2000, 135 military personnel had died while taking part in training and exercises.