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Do you think they should have stopped the course due to the heat? (Why/Why Not)
Corporal Josh Hoole, 26, died while taking part in a promotion course to become a plattoon sergeant.
His grandfather John Craig, 79, said: ‘The family are absolutely shattered by this. Josh was the greatest grandson you could ask for.
‘He was the perfect grandson he was a dedicated soldier and so fit he was an infantry instructor at Catterick and just loved the army,
‘The MOD have been keeping their cards close to their chest but we thing its dehydration or something that has caused this.’
An Army spokeswoman said: ‘We can confirm that a soldier from ITC Catterick died on 19 July while conducting pre-course training for the Platoon Sergeants’ Battle Course in Brecon.’
Temperatures on the mountain range were the same yesterday as on the day Lance Corporal Edward Maher, Lance Corporal Craig Roberts and Corporal James Dunsby lost their lives in 2013.
The Platoon Sergeants’ Battle Course is taken by infantry 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. It is described on the Army website as ‘both mentally and physically demanding’.
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 run pre-courses, said it is a tough course, 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.
Do you think they should have stopped the course due to the heat? (Why/Why Not)