Training for war involves simulating the real thing so that lives are saved in times of battle.
It goes without saying that there is always a risk that something might go wrong. That's part and parcel of life. After all scores of people get killed or injured slipping in their own bathrooms.
There is no such thing as zero risk in any scenario. That's not how life works.
We need to get over it and move on while acknowledging that there is no way that we can control every aspect of our destinies and those of others.
Rather than try to achieve zero deaths a more realistic approach would be to set a max tolerable death rate. That's what the airline industry does and it works very well.
Hi, I never said I expect zero risk although expecting zero casualty is a fair expectation and CPL Liu death due to conducting officer negligence falls far BELOW this expectation.
Even in war, safety where possible is still paramount because it affects troop morale,
which is itself necessary for strategic, planned and calculated troop actions. Seeing ones commander behavior in a reckless, desperate or beserk manner doesn't engender confidence by any measure.
Even the airline industry will admit that any one death by negligence is one too many.
The commander caused, by inducing enemy gunfire, the 24ton bionix armoured track vehicle to execute a immediate and dangerous extraction procedure involved reverse gear retreat at fast speed (>9kph) under simulated war conditions (a military exercise).
The conducting officer owes a duty of care to ensure that the activity area is cordoned off to other person's or vehicles other than the Bionix being tested since the Bionix armored vehicle will easily crush any soft body vehicle in it's way.
The conducting officer is aware that the Bionix driver will reverse at fast if not full speed without direct vision in his direction of travel and that any vehicle or person to his rear would be gravely endangered.
The conducting officer is responsible for ensuring that the exercise area is clear of other vehicles before inducing the Bionix to reverse at fast speed.
The conducting officer neglected his duty to ensure that nobody was in the path of the bionix before he gave his fatal order.
The negligence of the conducting officer is the primary cause for the death of CPL Liu who should have been removed before the Bionix drill commenced or the drill should never have been ordered given the dangerously unsuitable position of the respective vehicles to begin with in the first place.
CPL Liu death was wholely if not fully avoidable and should not have happened to begin with.
(PS: others have experienced faulty headsets or just human error in military training due to sleep deprivation, thus the need for the regular conducting officer to be on lookout for safety lapses and to avoid giving maneuver execution orders when safety cannot be ensured or is significantly compromised).
Poor safety awareness and lack of common Sense amongst SAF regular officers is the primary cause of this fatal mishap. Other causes include driver fatigue, periodic communication equipment failures, Rover reverse gear defect causing problems with engagement etc.
