MilitaryForums.co.uk

AN unfit soldier who couldn't keep up with the troops while out training sparked a police alert when he was spotted walking past houses in the city with his gun.

The squaddie fell behind during the organised ten-mile march and decided to walk back to Redford Barracks, still dressed in his combat clothing and clutching an unloaded rifle.

A police car was sent to track down the solider after he was spotted by worried drivers. The trooper, from the Third Battalion The Rifles, was told to go to an ambulance waiting for soldiers at the end of the march when he couldn't keep up with the pace.

But instead of doing so he decided to walk back to the barracks, taking a shortcut along Lanark Road, in the Juniper Green area of the city.

The unusual and worrying sight of the man carrying a rifle was reported to the police by a distressed member of the public and a car was sent to investigate.

The squaddie was eventually tracked down by police, who ushered him into their vehicle and saved him from walking the final mile back to base.

An Army spokeswoman said the soldier should have followed instructions he had been given and labelled his decision "an error of judgement".