Army to keep learning after officer killed in training - inquest

The Army will "keep learning" from "mistakes" that led to the death of an officer when a Warrior armoured vehicle with a faulty alarm was reversed into him, an inquest has heard.

Second Lt Max George, 26, of Durham, died at the scene of a training exercise on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, on 21 June 2022.

The Warrior vehicle had a broken alarm system, the ongoing inquest at Wiltshire and Swindon Coroner's Court previously heard.

Brig Giles Harry Malec, head of the Army Safety Group, apologised to the George family at the hearing, and said: "We know that we have to learn from our collective mistakes. We are determined to keep learning and do better for our people, amid the pressures."

Previously, the inquest heard that 2nd Lt George had left the Warrior through a rear door and had "momentarily" struggled with a piece of "snagged" kit.

He reached inside the Warrior to pick up his weapon just as the student commander of the vehicle was ordered to reverse.

Second Lt George was hit by the armoured vehicle and died at the scene, the inquest was told.

The hearing was also told that an alarm system in the Warrior, which would have alerted the driver that the rear door was still open, did not work.

Brig Malec said the Army accepted "all recommendations" from a service inquiry that had taken place in the wake of 2nd Lt George's death.

The Warrior is no longer allowed to reverse with the rear door open and visual checks are carried out before movement, the inquest was told.

The FV-511, the type of Warrior that 2nd Lt George was fatally struck by, is also no longer used for debussing [a process that sees Army personnel unload from a vehicle] in training exercises.

Brig Malec said these changes had come into force after the "failure of the system" that had led to the officer's death.

There are currently 359 Warriors in the Army and 224 were fitted with rear-view facing cameras between October 2025 and March this year, the inquest was told.

The reasons the remaining 135 were not, Brig Malec explained, was due to "available money, time it would take to do this and relative risk to the user".

Warrior armoured vehicles are due to leave active service in 2027, after nearly 40 years of operation.

They will be replaced by the Boxer armoured vehicle, which Brig Malec told the inquest would all have an alarm system.

"It's a wheeled vehicle, it's bigger than Warrior," he said.

"It doesn't have a door, it has a rear ramp. There is sound generated to the side of the ramp [when in use] which is heard by both the commander and the driver.

"Additionally, there is a flashing light on the driver dashboard [which] informs them if the ramp is opening or closing."

At the end of his evidence, Brig Malec asked Coroner Ian Singleton for the chance to speak directly to the George family, who were sitting in court.

"The Army need people of the quality of Max," he told them. "We can't afford to lose anybody in training accidents.

"We are really, really sorry that he died and what you had to go through."

The inquest continues.

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