A special forces soldier left a fellow serviceman with life-changing injuries after accidentally shooting him seven times with live ammunition in a training exercise.
The elite serviceman was hit in the chest and arms after a mix-up between live and blank rounds during the exercise, the Sun reported.
Details emerged in a military court case in Wiltshire when the soldier who fired the shots was given a suspended jail term, the newspaper's report said.
The victim, named as Soldier A, suffered life-changing injuries and post-traumatic stress and was medically discharged.
In his victim statement he said: “There is no doubt, if I hadn’t been wearing my body armour, I would have been shot dead.”
Assistant Judge Advocate General Jane England said there were multiple safety failures by the military which had reduced Soldier B’s culpability.
A planned safety briefing was cancelled, the court heard.
The magazines containing blanks also looked almost identical to those with live rounds.
The soldier who fired on him, named as Soldier B, had put the wrong ammunition magazine in his assault rifle when he reloaded the gun at speed in the dark.
The court heard Soldier B was an experienced squaddie but it was his first time training with the top-secret unit.
He told the court martial he loaded his weapon fast as “speed was of the essence” and “he didn’t want to be the last person ready”.
The area where he loaded the gun was lit by street lights.
Soldier A suffered serious injuries to his left forearm, abdomen, chest and right arm.
The court heard he has undergone multiple surgeries as his left arm required extensive reconstruction and he lost 90 per cent of a median nerve, which helps to move the forearm, wrist, hand and fingers.
The right side of his chest also required reconstruction and there was permanent scarring.
