A U.S. soldier died earlier this month after being struck by an M2 Bradley fighting vehicle during a large-scale training exercise in California, an Army spokesperson confirmed.

Adrian Bonsey, 29, a combat engineer assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart in Georgia, was on foot in a training area in the Mojave Desert on June 10. The incident occurred during hours of limited visibility around 4:30 a.m. when Bonsey was run over by the 27-ton armored vehicle. The incident remains under investigation.

Maj. Gen. John Lubas, the 3rd Infantry Division commander, stated that Bonsey was an exceptional soldier committed to the mission. "We are heartbroken and will wrap our arms around his family, loved ones and fellow Soldiers during this difficult time," Lubas said in a statement.

The National Training Center in the Mojave Desert is the Army's premier combat training venue, where units conduct month-long exercises replicating war conditions. These rotations serve as the final validation before units are deemed ready for potential combat deployments.

Bonsey, a native of New York, joined the Army in 2023 and had been stationed at Fort Stewart for two months. He previously served at Fort Carson, Colorado, and deployed to Poland in 2024. The M2 Bradley fighting vehicle is a heavily armored personnel carrier equipped with a 25mm chain gun and machine guns, designed to carry troops and provide fire support.

In 2025, the Army recorded 31 soldier deaths in training accidents, with fatalities occurring in both aircraft crashes and ground incidents. Military vehicles were involved in most ground-related fatalities, often in rollover incidents. Army investigations into fatal training incidents have frequently identified factors such as sleep deprivation, inadequate training, and inexperienced leaders overseeing high-risk exercises.

Since 2020, the Army has averaged approximately two vehicle-related fatalities per month. However, this number has been on a downward trend since the mid-2000s, when deaths were triple that amount, coinciding with intensified training efforts for the Iraq War surge.

Army investigations have pointed to contributing factors in fatal training incidents, including sleep deprivation, insufficient training, and inexperienced leadership overseeing dangerous exercises. In some instances, commanders had only recently assumed their leadership roles.