20 U.S. Army Soldiers Died in Training Accidents Last Year

Twenty U.S. Army soldiers died in training accidents over the last year, while another 70 were seriously injured, according to statistics obtained by the Washington Examiner. . .

“Military training is inherently dangerous and while any loss of life is tragic, it is difficult to reduce the numbers to zero,” retired Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, who directs the Heritage Foundation’s Center for National Defense, told the Washington Examiner. “Military aviation, operating vehicles over open terrain at night, weapons firing with live ammunition are among the military skills that must be practiced but carry high risks. A rise from 18 to 20 training deaths in a year, while unfortunate, is not a statistically significant rise.”

The slight increase coincides with the Army’s efforts to improve combat readiness across the force. The Pentagon placed an emphasis on combat capability after the Trump administration published its national defense strategy, which aims to counter conventional adversaries like Russia and China.

Rigorous training is necessary in order to confront U.S. adversaries, according to former Army pilot Bradley Bowman, who runs the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. . .

The 20 soldiers killed in the past year died in a variety of accidents. West Point cadet Christopher Morgan, 22, died and 22 others were injured when their truck crashed in June. Army Staff Sgt. David Gallagher, 51, was killed and three others were injured when their M1 Abrams tank rolled over earlier that month. Staff Sgt. Jacob Hess, 34, was killed in a similar accident when his Humvee rolled over in May. (Read more from “20 U.S. Army Soldiers Died in Training Accidents Last Year” HERE)

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