'They said his name...it was like somebody had grabbed my heart and squeezed it'

THE father of a soldier who died during an activity that “should never have taken place” wants a law changed to prevent future deaths.

- By Conor Wilson

Corporal Joshua Hoole died in July 2016 when he collapsed close to the end of an annual fitness test (AFT) on the hottest day of the year in the Brecon Beacons, South Wales.

Now, father Phillip Hoole, 63, is calling for the Ministry of Defence to lose the immunity from prosecutions it currently enjoys for incidents in non-operational settings.

Josh was one of more than a dozen fit and healthy infantry soldiers not to complete the test.

An inquest later found that he “would not have died when he did had the AFT not gone ahead”, due to a host of safety failures from those responsible for organising the event.

Phillip, who also served a full career in the military, said: “The day he died I got home and saw two men in suits and ties. When I opened the door to them, I said, ‘Which one?’ Because both of my sons are serving.

“Then they said his name and it was just like somebody had grabbed my heart and just squeezed it, and it didn’t matter which one it was. He was gone.

“Then they told me it was on an AFT and it was run according to policy, there were no problems on it.

Reform

“He just suddenly collapsed near the end. He wasn’t in pain and he died and that’s what I was told, but that’s not what actually happened.”

An AFT requires soldiers to carry 25kg plus their weapon and water over an eight-mile course within two hours. On the day of Josh’s death, temperatures hit 20C by the exercise’s start time of 7am.