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.
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