Soldier tells of grappling bout
A Shropshire soldier who claims he lost a testicle during a banned "milling" exercise said he was not properly supervised when he was ordered to grapple a fellow guardsman.
David Shaun Best, 23, of Shrewsbury, alleges no PT instructor was present during the basic training at Harrogate but two non-commissioned officers were there.
He has launched a High Court claim for damages against the Ministry of Defence. Mr Best claims he required surgery on his right testicle six months after being kneed in the wrestling bout in September 2001.
He said it left him crawling on the floor in pain and resulted in a swelling the size of a tennis ball.
The MoD, which denies liability, says milling, which involves short bursts of controlled physical aggression as an exercise in motivation and anger management, was only used in the Parachute Regiment and never on raw recruits of 16 or 17.
It claims Mr Best, of Moneybrook Way, Meole Brace, Shrewsbury, suffered the injury when he was assau- lted at a fairground three months previously.
Mr Best said the instructions given to recruits were that the bout was over when an opponent's shoulder touched the ground, and that fists, feet and knees were not to be used.
He said in evidence that his opponent was a good lad, and not a bully, but the assault may have been deliberate.
"When you were there, you'd do anything to win," he said.
"It was quite hard and fast. I was in great pain on the floor. I more or less crawled off out of the circle."
Mark Phillips, a fellow recruit at the time, told Mr Justice Lloyd Jones, sitting in London: "Everyone knew it was milling. It was a wrestle. I heard the screech - a yell of pain."
Corporal Alexander Kerr, who was alleged to be the NCO supervising the session, told the court that the incident "just never happened".
"It wouldn't be tolerated. It would be a form of abuse of a sixteen-year-old boy."
He said that wrestling was not part of training at that level of youth and inexperience, as it was dangerous, and no such bout ever took place at Harrogate as far as he knew.
Mr Best's claim, which is thought to be for more than £300,000, is based on the assumption he would have gone on to become a corporal with the Welsh Guards and serve another 22 years.
The case continues.
By Steve Todd
