Black soldier sues MoD over injuries sustained in extreme weather conditions
A black soldier from Warwickshire is suing the Ministry of Defence for up to £200,000 for injuries sustained during a training exercise in extreme weather conditions.
Abdoulie Bojang, who was born in Gambia, says the MoD 'failed to take his ethnicity into account' before exposing him to cold temperatures during a training exercise in Canada in 2014.
Mr Bojang says he sustained career ending hand injuries after being exposed to minus 30 degree cold during a ski training session codenamed "Exercise Frozen Fun" with 105 Regiment Royal, Logistical Corps.
The 30-year-old from Nuneaton had been with the regiment since 2006.
He is seeking damages of between £150,000 and £200,000 from the Ministry of Defence, saying his "Black African ethnicity" made him more vulnerable to being injured by the cold, and the army should have done more to protect him.
In a writ lodged at London's High Court, Mr Bojang's barrister, Christopher Barnes, says that the soldier developed "non-freezing cold injuries" to his hands after being deployed to Banff in Canada for the adventure training event in February 2014.
Mr Bojang was told to attend a medical centre to after noticing that his hands had hardened and changed colour after taking part in the training exercise.
After attending a medical board on 14 April 2015, which recommended that he was no longer fit for any military duties, Mr Bojang was formally discharged from the British Army.
Failure to consider additional risk posed to Afro-Caribbean servicemen
Mr Barnes says the Army "failed to take into account his ethnicity" before deploying him on the cold weather training event.
He also accuses the MoD of "failing to provide him with additional training in the dangers of non-freezing cold injuries, emphasizing his vulnerability and the protective measures that he should adopt.
The Army "failed to provide training or instruction to his commanders, or those with control over him, highlighting his vulnerability to non-freezing cold injuries," the barrister goes on.
Additionally Mr Bojang should have been "provided with additional or specialist insulated clothing" including extra-warm gloves, socks and boots, he adds.
Mr Barnes says in the writ that the MoD have been aware of the increased risk of cold injuries to servicemen and women of "Black African ethnicity" since 1984 when a report on the subject was published in the aftermath of the Falklands War.
The barrister says the MoD "exposed Mr Bojang to a danger and a forseeable risk of injury" by allowing him to take part in the ski exercise in the circumstances.
"As a result of the injuries that he suffered, Mr Bojang has been unable to pursue the career or activities within the Army that he intended. He has been, and will remain, handicapped on the open labour market."
The MoD's defence to the action was not available from the court and the contents of the writ have yet to be tested in evidence before a judge.