He didn't have to die that day
if things were done properly he would still be here with us.
There was a complete breakdown in the care of people in training.
If they don't start learning there's going to be other deaths,
and I don't want other parents to go through this.
I would rather have my son not being classed as a preventable death.
The same accident happens again and again and again.
That just has to stop. It cannot continue to happen like that.
He loved being in the Army and he wanted to join the reserve SAS.
It's not what we wanted to hear but he was passionate
and he said he wanted to be the best soldier that he could be
and they were the best of the best.
We were worried about what he could be asked to do if he was deployed
but the thought of training didn't occur to us at all.
Two military personnel have died during a training exercise
in the Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales.
A third Army reserve soldier has died of his injuries.
It's understood the soldiers were taking part in a selection process
for the territorial SAS on Saturday, the hottest day of the year so far.
Margaret and Kelvin's 24-year-old son Craig
was one of the three men who died after collapsing in the heat that day.
At 11:30 there was a knock on the door,
and as soon as he said: "MoD", I knew Craig was dead.
He came in and explained how Craig was going up a hill,
and he'd had a heart attack.
We got the gist that there was more than Craig so we asked:
"Was there more than Craig?" And they said: "Yes".
Edward Maher and James Dunsby also died.
James prided himself on being a professional.
He was a very clever young man, very well educated.
If he'd been alive today and this had happened on his watch
he couldn't have understood it either.
Three lots of parents lost their children and they'll never come back again.
They are prepared to put their lives on the line,
the MoD let them down, it's as simple as that.
So how quickly can heat become a danger if you're pushing yourself to the limit?
Scientists at Loughborough University are putting it to the test.
At the moment we've set up a neutral temperature
and we're using 15C and 50% relative humidity,
and we don't have any sunshine in there and a very low wind speed.
He's carrying 20kg on his back.
Alex is fitter than most, but what happens when some subtle changes are made?
We haven't made it that hot just 22C
but we've added the sunshine and a bit more humidity.
So even in a cool environment he would get warm.
We saw he got up to 38C in a cool environment
but now he will struggle a bit more to release that heat,
so the heat builds up more inside his body.
If it gets very hot, as long as you slow down a lot
you can cope with a big range of temperatures,
but of course they couldn't, because they were doing a selection exercise,
so they had to keep pushing themselves,
and that's the big thing, as soon as you take away the ability for a person to self-regulate,
in terms of workload and work-speed,
that means you put them at risk and you have to monitor the environment
to ensure they don't go into these problem areas.
Alex has been walking on an incline for an hour.
Alright Alex I'm just bringing you down.
How does that feel?
Hot, very hot.
My head's throbbing, I'm sweating way more, it's just a lot more difficult.
How much longer do you think you could have gone on
without the need to slow down or stop?
I'd say about half an hour, 45 minutes.
Over the years we've seen many accidents, many people suffering from heat illness,
they feel that you can't include these considerations of heat,
and cold as well in the winter, because they just have to be tough
and just do the job they are supposed to do.
Every serviceman has got limits, we need to train them to those limits
but they'll push themselves to the point, as we saw in Brecon
they're the last people to recognise the signs of failure of their body,
of dehydration,
of them pushing themselves to a point where they're going to become casualties.
So that reinforces yet again the importance of supervision.
It is shameful.
An inquest in 2015 found the MoD made mistakes with its planning and equipment,
and that neglect had contributed to the three men's deaths.
We will study the coroner's conclusion very carefully,
and make sure that everything possible is done
to prevent a reoccurrence of an incident such as this.
Welcome to Wales Today, tonight's headlines:
Corporal Joshua Hoole died after completing an eight mile fitness test in Brecon.
Questions have been asked about whether the Army
has learned from the deaths of three soldiers on the Beacons in 2013.
It is my belief that the Ministry of Defence failed in its duty of care
to implement any meaningful changes.
Having served 24 years in the armed forces, this whole process has given me no pleasure.
I'd rather have my son not being classed as a preventable death.
The coroner at Josh Hoole's inquest said she had grave concerns about what happened.
The MoD apologised, again.
The MoD acknowledges that aspects of the policy in place could have been better.
We shall act upon the recommendations which have come from this inquest.
These weren't the only deaths in training where lessons could have been learned.
An MoD report commissioned in 2002
after a series of diving deaths, called for substantial changes
to equipment and training.
But less than two years later
Sergeant Bill McLellan died in just a few metres of water
during an exercise in Germany.
He was wearing the same kit that the Army was warned it should have replaced
and training at the time was still lacking.
It has immunity from prosecution under the Health and Safety Act.
Yes they can be criticised but nothing with sanctions or teeth to it
that can actually make them sit up and think: "Actually we do have to change,
we have to change our systems and procedures,
and we have to look after those people that serve with us".
We've discovered the MoD has breached health and safety laws
40 times in the last 20 years.
In that time 148 servicemen and women have died,
not in battle but in training.
Unfortunately in my 30 years' experience the only way the MoD are gonna learn a lesson
is to have their immunity removed and sanctions imposed.
The MoD says when the Health and Safety Executive identifies shortcomings
it takes action.
But is it enough?
You can't play with people's lives.
Every trainer must regard
the people they're training as their own family, their responsibility.
How would they look after their brother or sister?
That might sound emotional and whatever, but it's not.
Training is an emotional business, training is about people.
When a child dies it's bad enough,
but when you find out that you have to go through all that pain,
when it was totally avoidable,
it just makes it so much worse.
Because he didn't have to die that day.
If things were done properly he would still be here with us.
I'll never get over it. I can't, it's impossible.
But I'll miss him as long as I've got a breath left in my body,
and no, you do not get over it, you do not get over it.