'Blast' prank by soldier ‘reckless'

A SOLDIER left colleagues with hearing loss after "recklessly" setting off a battle noise simulator to celebrate the end of an exercise, a court martial heard.

- Mark Reynolds

Fusilier Nathan Lawler caused fellow troops "significant" injuries after activating the device designed to replicate the sounds of war next to them when they had removed their hearing protection.

A military court heard the 22-year-old who had not slept for 48 hours - was copying others he had seen using the simulator, which was set to mimic the sound of an explosive mortar round. But he wasn't trained and his "ill-judged" attempt to mark the completion of their 31-day exercise went disastrously wrong. One of his colleagues ruptured an ear drum and another suffered hearing loss which meant he could not be deployed, Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire, heard.