A British soldier killed by an improvised explosive device or "IED" highlights the dangers of allowing local Afghan civilians unrestricted access to training ranges used by NATO troops.
The soldiers name was L/Cpl James Hill, who was serving with the 1st Battalion, the Coldstream Guards, in Camp Bastion in Helmand province, Afghanistan (see article: Army criticized over James Hill death by Surrey coroner http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-19065950 ).
The article noted L/Cpl James Hill, 23, of Surrey, died only four days after arriving at Camp Bastion, in Helmand, in 2009.
His death was a "preventable tragedy" that could have been avoided if security was tighter at training facilities located off military bases in Afghanistan.
Cpl James Hill training was part of a program that aimed to acclimate soldiers to local conditions.
He arrived to the training site that day only to be blown to bits by an IED.
A formal inquest into the circumstances of his death found that before and after training periods local people had "unfettered access" to the site.
Apparently it was the custom of locals to swap the area before and after military training exercises to collect up the brass and scrap metal littering the area. Giving the Taliban an golden opportunity to plant an IED undetected on the training site (see video: Coroner slams Army over IED killing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiBCx-qd5sk ).
Military officials blame the attack on militants in the area, but were reluctant to hear claims they were in any way responsible for the soldier's tragic death (see article: Surrey soldier James Hill killed on 'insecure' range http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-18816050 ).
"Searches of the training range were carried out using Vallon detectors and no IEDs were found", according to a MoD spokesperson.
This was however inconsistent with the coroners report which determined that the metal used in IED that killed the Cpl Hill in this case could have been easily detectable by a Vallon Metal detector, like the type used by British soldiers in Afghanistan.
The coroner therefore ruled his death as "unlawful".
In response to the death of the soldier the Ministry of Defense (MoD) have located all their training sites within military bases to insure this does not happen again.
When asked if the United States military, specifically the Army and Marine Corp has a similar policy in place with respect to insuring the safety of its "off base" training sites in Afghanistan, a Pentagon official refused to comment?
IEDs remain the number one cause of U.S. service members killed and wounded in action in Afghanistan.
Robert Tilford
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