The US Army has temporarily halted all live weapon training for its Special Forces units. This decision comes after an incident where a soldier was accidentally shot with live ammunition instead of blanks during a training exercise at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. The injured soldier, part of the 7th Infantry Division, is currently in stable condition at Madigan Army Medical Center.
The incident occurred when a soldier from the 1st Special Forces Group mistakenly used live rounds from an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) during a force-on-force training session. The Army has initiated a comprehensive three-day safety stand-down affecting all Special Forces, civil affairs, and psychological operations units. This pause includes the cancellation of all scheduled live weapons training to allow for an internal assessment and review of safety protocols.
Major Russell Gordon, a spokesperson for the 1st Special Forces Command, emphasized the importance of this precautionary measure, stating that the contamination of blank ammunition with live rounds represents a severe breach of safety standards. The Army is conducting a thorough investigation to determine how the live ammunition was introduced into the exercise. Additionally, all units are required to conduct an inventory of their arms rooms and verify that ammunition storage complies with Army regulations.
During this stand-down, noncommissioned officers will receive enhanced training on ammunition handling and the safe conduct of firearms training. The Army is also implementing a period of amnesty for soldiers to return any improperly stored ammunition.
This safety pause follows another recent stand-down in February when the Army National Guard grounded its helicopters due to safety concerns after two AH-64 Apache helicopter crashes.
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