Poor Matthew – who knows how many times he dreamt of wearing the cap of his boss one day, and how many times he pictured himself forming part of the Partnership for Peace and other military exercises. He had to sacrifice himself for the Army to realise that safety at work and military exercises cannot be estranged one from the other. He had to die for the Army to realise that no soldier can be engaged in water exercises unless he can swim and has a basic knowledge of first aid. The duties of a soldier include flying and seafaring duties on AFM craft and various personal security assignments.
Matthew is not to blame at all in all this fiasco – he had all the requirements to become enlisted in the Armed Forces. The basic requirements as listed on the Armed Forces website are that one is physically fit, over 18 years of age; be a Maltese citizen, possess a clean police conduct, have a minimum height of 1.57m for males and 1.52m for females, have a secondary level of education to enlist as Gunner, and have the inclination and motivation necessary for military life. And Matthew was enlisted as a gunner although he had the qualifications to enlist as an Officer Cadet.
No other requirement is needed to join the Armed Forces although one of the duties is to operate patrol boats and deal with water.
Even the questions the army puts to the recruit before enlistment, are questions which concentrate only on the character and details of the applicant, and nowhere is the recruit asked if he can swim, if he has fear of water and if he has a basic knowledge of first aid. Probably we all assumed that the army will give such training before anyone can join the elite team of the Army.
And Matthew was training to form part of the elite team of the Army – so elite that his supervisor did not notice that one of his men disappeared from the face of the earth and it took the team ten minutes to discover that Matthew had disappeared. So elite that the Army does not consider the basics of first aid and of swimming to be an essential requisite for joining the elite team.
We all must be grateful to Matthew for sacrificing his life to highlight the missing link in the army. Matthew fulfilled all the requirements and the Army cannot hide behind the law, in that the regulations under the Malta Armed Forces Act on the appointments and conditions of services of the regular force do not require anything further.
Regulations are made by the Minister and it is the responsibility of the Prime Minister who is responsible for the Army to have a closer look at the regulations promulgated in 2003 and to make the necessary amendments so that no other “Mathew” will suffer the same faith.
The questions put to the recruit before enlistment must not continue to be so generic and the regulations must also include questions that are put in each team of the Armed Forces so that any interested party from outside can have the basic knowledge as to what is required from each section in the Army. These must be included in the regulations forming part of the Malta Armed Forces Art and not be part of the internal regime.
The point at issue is also whether military exercises are subject to the health and safety of the soldiers. This is a very delicate matter as the army is the army and health and safety of workers have so far not included the health and safety of our soldiers.
I can fully understand that these exercises are practically the same as those carried out all over Europe, and it will not be amiss to enquire as to whether the armed forces in these countries have a different code of conduct than ours regarding the health and safety of their army personnel.
I do not know how long have these exercises been conducted at Chadwick Lakes and I do not know if any studies were conducted about the conditions of the terrain of these lakes. However after a tragedy it is easy to point fingers, and the least we can do now is to ensure that no more human lives are sacrificed.
We now wait for the magisterial and military inquiries, and we hope that Matthew will be honoured, and we wait for his relatives to sue the army for their negligence.
In the meantime we augur that all these inquiries be concluded as soon as possible so that our Armed Forces will start to take the necessary measures.
Our Armed Forces seem to be going through a very bad patch – the illegal immigration saga, the Simshar tragedy and now the death of Matthew. “What does a military career do for you?” asks the leaflet of the Armed Forces of Malta promoting the advantages of joining the army. It lists various advantages, but now we have realised that there are dangers too.
This is the same with our participation in the Partnership for Peace. We promote this as an adventure and a benefit to our soldiers and it will continue to be so unless, God forbid, tragedy strikes any of our soldiers in these missions. Soldiers have to keep their mouth shut – this is part of the army regulations. They cannot have a union – this is part of the army regulations.
We hardly get to know what goes on at the Luqa barracks and it is thanks to Matthew that we got to know that these exercises are carried out at Chadwick Lakes and how they are carried out. We do not know the duty of the supervisor in these exercises either, or what it takes to become a supervisor.
These are questions which will hopefully be answered and put to task so that other tragedies will hit our young boys in the army. Thank you Matthew.
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He had to sacrifice himself for the Army to realise that safety at work and military exercises cannot be estranged one from the other. He had to die for the Army to realise that no soldier can be engaged in water exercises unless he can swim and has a basic knowledge of first aid. The duties of a soldier include flying and seafaring duties on AFM craft and various personal security assignments.
