Military training reform law passes after Bradenton parents investigate son's deadly overseas accident
BRADENTON, Fla. - Nicholas Panipinto died serving the country he loved. The 20-year-old Army specialist lost his life in November 2019 when the Bradley Fighting Vehicle he was driving rolled over during a training exercise in South Korea.
"The worst day of my life was when those soldiers came to the house," said his dad Anthony Panipinto.
Afterward, his mother, Kimberly Weaver, dug through documents at her Bradenton home and uncovered unsettling information.
"There was a lot of things that they said that didn’t make sense with the information I already had," she told FOX 13 in June 2020.
She discovered training failures, a nonexistent driver training program and a base serving 42,000 service members without a hospital.
"In my opinion, it’s not an accident when there were five or six things that contributed to his death," said Weaver.
Nicholas Panipinto's mother began her own mission fighting for change.
"What we hope to get out of this is that no one else has to go through that. Kimberly took up her sword and never stopped fighting, she’s not done yet. This is great. But she wants more. I want more," said Anthony Panipinto.
Working with Congressman Vern Buchanan, new military training reform has now been signed into law as part of the National Defense Authorization Act.
The law requires the Pentagon to implement more realistic training practices, develop stricter enforcement standards and ensure better oversight in the hopes of preventing future military training accidents and deaths.
In 2017, four times as many service members died in training accidents than in action.
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"We had no idea so many soldiers were killed in training accidents. More than combat. Way more than combat. It was just very eye-opening," said Anthony Panipinto.
Nothing will ever bring Nicholas Panipinto back, but his family knows his mission continues on through them.
"If Nicholas’ face and name gets attached to this and it saves one person it’s totally worth it because the worst thing you want is for your son or daughter to die in vain," his dad shared.
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