No Equipment, No Training, No Chance

By JOHN COLES
Published: The Sun 10/03/10

A CORONER slammed the Ministry of Defence over equipment shortages and inadequate training yesterday - as he ruled the first woman soldier to die in Afghanistan and three comrades were unlawfully killed.

Corporal Sarah Bryant, 26, of the Intelligence Corps, was chasing escaped Taliban prisoners in 2008 when a 100kg mine wrecked her Snatch Land Rover.

She died with SAS reservists Corporal Sean Reeve, 28, Lance Corporal Richard Larkin, 39, and Trooper Paul Stout, 31.

After a six-day inquest, Coroner David Masters demanded the MoD examine the Army's shortage of Ebex bomb detectors and armoured vehicles.

And he said: "There was an inadequacy of training for this unit.

Killed in action ... from left, Corporal Sean Robert Reeve, Trooper Paul Stout and Lance Corporal Richard Larkin

"The correct proportion of metal detectors must be reviewed. Snatch Land Rovers were not the preferred vehicle for the operation. There was significant disquiet about those vehicles being the only resource available."

The inquest in Trowbridge, Wilts, had been told by the commanding SAS officer, known as Colonel A, that he repeatedly asked for better-equipped WMIK Land Rovers but was declined.
At least 37 have died in vulnerable Snatch vehicles - dubbed "mobile coffins" - since 2005.

The Coroner pledged to investigate the supply and adequacy of its replacement, the Snatch Vixen.

The inquest heard a ditch where the mine was hidden was not properly searched with detectors. Only one soldier had been trained to use one.

Adam Wilson, solicitor for two of the families, said after the hearing: "We hope the MoD heeds the recommendations."

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/2886221/No-equipment-no-training-no-chance-coroners-devastating-verdict-on-MoD-after-Corporal-Sarah-Bryant-and-three-comrades-killed-in-Afghanistan.html#ixzz0hnmnXn8H

Posted by Michelle Nielsen