Blog

There was limited media coverage of the accident that claimed the life of a permanent member of the armed forces during a planned training activity. The General Staff's announcement was also laconic: "On Tuesday, September 06, 2016, at around 18:15, during a training activity in Lesvos, a tracked vehicle of the 98th Infantry Division overturned, resulting in the fatal injury of its driver, Sergeant Major M.K. of the Hellenic Army. The causes of the accident are being investigated by the authorities."
The incident is added to a series of similar accidents that plague the armed forces of all countries in the world, depriving the lives of mostly young people. Such accidents attract more attention than the daily and equally tragically cited "workplace" accidents. In particular, military accidents involving aircraft or involving a large number of human casualties make the "front pages" of the news, attracting the interest of readers and usually provoking political confrontations. However, the continuous bleeding from accidents of small extent but tragic consequences in the daily activities of the armed forces related to training or routine operations goes relatively unnoticed.
Hundreds of years of human war experience have not made it possible to eliminate such accidents in the effort to build a reliable defense mechanism. The combination of movements, weapons, deadly fire, impetuous actions, a large number of people involved and multiple unpredictable factors entails risks that cannot be eliminated. However, they can certainly be reduced to “acceptable limits” (an unacceptable definition when referring to human lives) by diligently taking safety measures at many levels. However, the pursuit of “maximum safety” presents the risk of forced or unconscious avoidance of necessary training actions required to acquire high combat power in an army.
It is possible to propose the use of training simulators to avoid losses. In any case, the simulator is a very important training tool that provides economy but also sufficient safety to the trainee. In fact, their capabilities are constantly increasing, allowing the joint training of units in demanding time conditions and in environments that are not easily available. Nevertheless, all truly experienced armies recognize the unique value of real and realistic training in space, time, conditions even in the presence of a reasonable danger and risk. Once again, the armed forces are called upon to balance between the conflicting factors of safety, economy, availability of means and spaces in order to achieve the best result. The finding, contradictory at first glance, that accidents during training activities are reduced with more training is also true.
Returning to accidents in the armed forces and their causes, we usually find a sequence of errors that led to the tragic outcome. Errors that can be traced back to material failures, old or unsuitable means, poor maintenance, incorrect action planning, incorrect execution, ignorance or neglect of regulations and procedures, overestimation of capabilities and even criminal indifference at different levels. The investigation of the causes of an accident must primarily aim to avoid its recurrence and secondarily to assign appropriate responsibilities. It must be a process exactly analogous to the one that has been applied for years in aviation and has dramatically reduced the proportion of accidents in relation to the number of people traveling. However, even this strict procedure has not eliminated air accidents and of course flights have not stopped for reasons of accident avoidance!
Every accident, regardless of size and losses, sends multiple messages in multiple directions and must be investigated in depth. Returning to air accidents, I recall cases of obvious wrong action by the pilots that did not prevent the investigation committee from proceeding by identifying the underlying causes that were related (for example) to inadequate training, inability to assess the crew and excessive fatigue and pressure.
In the armed forces, as in the majority of activities, the human factor is responsible for the majority of accidents either as a direct participant or indirectly through the inability to prevent. The age, aging or even unsuitability of equipment and the terrain and weather conditions follow or usually contribute. In the end, the tragic result is the sum of many failures and their thorough examination leads to a multitude of findings and conclusions, even those directly unrelated to the accident in question. For example, in this particular accident, the age of the victim (38 years) in relation to the duties he performed (tracked vehicle driver) may lead to the conclusion of an increase in the age limits of our permanent personnel. The "age" of the vehicle (tracked vehicle) may also reveal similar conclusions.
In summary, the existence of a combat-ready army has been and will be associated with multiple risks. The effort to eliminate accidents by reducing training activities or reducing the degree of danger, although it sounds pleasant, nevertheless involves risks, especially for an army that is called upon to face multiple threats every day. Of course, there is much scope for reducing accidents through objective investigation, identification of causes and combating the real causes without focusing on superficial culprits and without a guild mentality of covering up existing weak points. However, it must be widely understood that acquiring and maintaining a combat-ready army involves the inevitable cost of human losses, especially in training activities. The pursuit of zeroing or reducing the number of accident indicators should not be the sole pursuit of political and military leadership, but only taken into account with other parameters that determine the combat capability of the armed forces. Furthermore, therapeutic actions should address the real causes of the accident and not constitute a brake on the necessary educational activities through their limitation or their avoidance imposed from above.
Last but not least, the state must recognize all those who have suffered during their service or career in the armed forces as the inevitable blood sacrifice that we as Greeks are called upon to pay in order to safeguard our territorial integrity, our national independence and within the framework of our constitutional obligations. The state's attitude towards these people and their families must therefore be the same.