Fort Bragg, N.C. ? Army officials said Tuesday they have adopted new procedures in Green Beret training in the wake of a training accident in which a soldier was shot to death by a deputy who was unaware of the drill.

Among other changes, soldiers will no longer wear civilian clothes during role-playing exercises outside Fort Bragg and no role-playing will involve civilian law enforcement agencies, said Col. Charles King, commander of the 1st Special Warfare Training Group, Airborne.

Karry Morton carries his AR-15 rifle and the jeep he uses to carry Army soldiers to mock ambush sites at his home in Uwharrie, N.C. Morton and other locals are role players for Special Forces trainees when they take part in an exercise called Robin Sage. Last Saturday a deputy, who was not participating in the exercise, shot and killed one soldier and wounded another in a case mistaken identity.

Military officials said the shooting Saturday resulted from a breakdown in communications. Deputy Sheriff Randall Butler, who was unaware of the off-base exercise, stopped a pickup carrying two soldiers who were wearing civilian clothes and carrying a duffel bag containing a disassembled rifle.

The soldiers apparently thought the deputy was part of their role-playing exercise and tried to disarm him, officials said. Butler will not be charged.

In addition to the changes in procedures, Army officials already have met in person with sheriff’s departments in each county where the exercises occur, King said at a news conference Tuesday.

“We are confident we can adjust our procedures to preclude this from ever happening again,” King said.

The Special Forces also will conduct an internal investigation to determine what can be done to prevent such accidents, King said. The training cannot be conducted entirely on Fort Bragg because Special Forces need the realism of training with civilians, he said.

Training will continue in the current Robin Sage exercise, the final step in the qualification course for soldiers seeking the coveted Green Beret. Robin Sage is run four times a year in central North Carolina. The current exercise ends Sunday.

Special Forces in many countries, including Afghanistan, have reaffirmed the need for this type of training, King said.

In Saturday’s incident, 1st Lt. Tallas Tomeny was killed and Sgt. Stephen Phelps was wounded. Phelps was in fair condition Tuesday at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst, Army officials said.

The exercise, known as “Robin Sage,” has been conducted since the 1950s in North Carolina. It is designed to test skills in survival, tactics and dealing with people, as well as judgment, decision-making and ethics.

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Retired Green Beret Master Sgt. Thomas Broken Bear Squier went through Robin Sage in 1977 and has since taken part in two dozen exercises as an instructor.

As realistic as things could seem sometimes, Squier says a stark line was drawn at causing actual physical injury. Soldiers received in-depth training on how to know things were out of control, he says, and pepper spray in the face should have been a warning to the soldiers that the line had been crossed.

“I would have put my hands on my head and told him, ‘Look, let’s stop right here,”‘ says Squier, a veterans services officer. “They had to realize that he was a real deputy.”

In all the years he took part in Robin Sage, Squier says, the worst incidents were honor code violations: wives trying to sneak food to their husbands, soldiers stealing food off people’s porches or trying to bum a hot shower and warm bed for the night.