JB MDL stands down for safety day

Published Feb. 1, 2012
By Airman 1st Class Dennis L. Sloan
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- The 87th Air Base Wing and the 305th Air Mobility Wing leadership ushered in the new year by taking a day to focus on safety Jan. 27.

Air Mobility Command ordered an official stand-down day to focus on safety with the intent to raise awareness and focus attention on safe and effective mobility operations.

"This is an opportune time as we come off the holiday 'slow' period to refocus our attention and reinvigorate a safety mindset," said Gen. Raymond E. Johns Jr., AMC commander, in a letter to the command's leaders.

Johns directed AMC personnel to limit operations and training on safety day to allow maximum participation. This afforded Airmen time to analyze mishap trends and understand the need to maintain safety focus in day-to-day air mobility operations.

Airmen attended briefings and unit activities where they discussed safety issues within their units.

One unit in particular, the 87th Communications Squadron, kicked off safety day with a creative approach. They held a safety-themed dodge ball tournament during their morning physical training session.

"It's hard to get people fired up and excited about safety," said Maj. Jesse Jaramillo, the 87th CS Director of Operations and a native of Waltham, Mass. Our activity forced Airmen to go home and work with their families to find protective gear they had (or didn't have). This brought safety to the forefront of their minds and re-invigorated safety culture both at home and at work."

The service members wore protective sports equipment such as helmets, knee and elbow pads and life vests. Their morning of dodge ball fun was followed by safety briefings regarding on-and off-duty mishaps.

Staff Sgt. Carlton Anthony, JB MDL Safety Office ground safety specialist, briefed several hundred Airmen from the 305th Air Mobility Wing about on-and off-duty mishaps.

Anthony focused on flightline, weapons and maintenance mishaps since these are areas of concern for Airmen of the 305th.

"How do we prevent mishaps," asked Anthony, a native of Arlington, Va. "We need to step up and be proactive, not reactive."

Safety representatives throughout the base relayed newly crafted messages from AMC leadership to Airmen during the briefings. One of the messages AMC developed is, "Friends don't let friends do stupid things and take unnecessary risks."

The targeted audience for this message is Airmen who drink and drive, speed or engage in wreckless behavior.

The safety representatives also emphasized the importance of traffic safety because traffic accidents are the number-one killer of Airmen in AMC.

"We've had more than one fatality here in the past year due to traffic mishaps," said Anthony. "Our biggest issue with these mishaps is they all could have been prevented."

Air Mobility Command leadership has created the acronym FAST to help educate Airmen ages 18 to 26 on the main accident triggers among their age group. The acronym stands for fatigue, alcohol, seatbelt non-use and too much speed.

Safety day activities highlighted safety practices and procedures, operational risk management and ways to reduce risk on-and off-duty.

"Our Airmen are the last line of defense when it comes to preventing mishaps; and breaking the mishap chain is every Airman's responsibility," said Lt. Gen. Mark Ramsay, 18th Air Force commander, in his letter to AMC leaders.

AMC officials expect the safety day to help reverse trends of safety compliance and promote attention to detail and adhering to standards. Officials hope it will also highlight key issues requiring the command's attention to continue safe and effective mission accomplishment.

Master Sgt. Kimberly Spinner, 18th Air Force Public Affairs specialist, contributed to this article.

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