Looking at deployments from safety view

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Neil Woods
  • 71st Flying Training Wing
Vance Air Force Base, Okla. --  Descending steeply from 17,000 feet above sea level, snow-capped mountains give way to a sheer-wall canyon with tree-speckled cliffs and sharp, rocky ledges that look close enough to touch.
You wouldn't think a C-130 Hercules should fly in places like this, but there's an outpost down the river valley in need of a healthy re-supply, and the Herc is just the one to drop it in.
The crew methodically runs all checks and slows down to open the door just as we approach mountain valley civilization -- lush fields of green along the rippling river with terraced gardens cascading down the hillsides. The village seems to grow right out of the cliffs and river bluffs as people step out of their mud houses and follow the low resonating drone of the props with their eyes.
Now at 600 feet above the river, we see the drop zone; a postage stamp of a field next to the winding river where 10 bundles of ammunition, food and other survival essentials will soon land under round parachute canopies. The landscape is among the most beautiful scenes in the world, and I catch my breath as I continue to scan the village and the hillside for any signs of trouble. Fortunately, there are none today, and soon the load is clear and on target. We take a moment to celebrate a successful drop as the Herc pitches up and powers out of the valley, headed back to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.
Experiences like this are part of the perks of being a deployed chief of safety and a great reminder about why I'm here supporting freedom. I've had an awesome time flying around this country on-board C-130s and Navy EA-6B Prowlers, taking in the beautiful mountain tapestry and meeting joint warriors from numerous coalition nations at forward-operating locations.
In the more common every day grind though, the safety business here is challenging and unlike anything I've experienced at home station.
In the contingency environment, we have to stay focused on enhancing the combat mission by preventing avoidable mishaps. In fact, that is our mission statement. Programs are nice and make safety people feel like they're managing something, but they take a back seat to getting out every day, finding where the next mishap might happen and taking immediate steps to fix it. This ensures airplanes and combat support get "beans and bullets" on target. Whether it's fighting foreign object debris, or finding creative ways to deal with a massive infestation of predatory birds that soar by the hundreds in the departure corridor, or getting hazardous obstacles removed from the runway edges at a forward operating base, we've got to identify hazards and counter them quickly to keep the mission on track.
Acceptable risk here rides at a much higher threshold than anything remotely tolerable in the peacetime training environment. Never at Vance could I pick up pieces of the active runway and use them as paperweights on my desk; or witness 30-ton dump trucks using flight line road as a raceway; or, at the last minute, head off a contractor's plan to put up an 8-foot fence right next to an active taxiway because no one bothered to coordinate with the airfield manager.
How frustrating it is to see the runway infield littered with trash and have zero capability to do anything about it for fear of losing parts of my anatomy to a land mine. And I could not have imagined being chief of safety would require me to make an expedition under the active runway to examine the insides of an old Russian culvert in danger of collapsing (we thought a lot about mines in there too). Where else could I see third-country national fuel trucks spill hundreds of gallons of JP-8 on a regular basis because they'll fill anything they can find with gas to get a U.S. dollar, even if axles, valves, hoses and tanks fall right off the truck by the time they reach the entry control point.
I haven't begun to mention the hazards encountered just walking around the base -- open trenches, large, ankle-turning rocks, constant vehicle congestion and pitch-black street corners that beckon disaster for unwary pedestrians. That's a big deal at a place designed for a couple thousand people that now counts more than 7,000 military members and civilians. It's difficult to walk more than 10 feet without running into someone. If Bagram was any air base in the United States, it would have been closed a long time ago.
My amazement that more bad things don't happen here is countered by a keen awareness of the great professionalism demonstrated by the joint service team. In this environment, safety cannot be paramount, but professionalism must be. Gen. William Looney III, Air Education and Training Command commander, espoused that theme in a December briefing to the 71st Operations Group. I see that truth at work here every day as Airmen apply their superb training in a tough operating environment.
Safety professionals often lament the "cowboy mentality" that creeps in during deployed operations -- that is, the tendency to dismiss safety as a distraction and an encumbrance to combat operations. However, the professional Airmen I have seen here understand just the opposite. They know successful combat employment depends on managing risk smartly and applying safe operating principles to dangerous endeavors. We applied a little of that when the explosives ordnance detachment blew up a 500-pound Russian bomb discovered only 200 feet from the active runway. Everyone here knows the safety culture and training they brought with them from their home stations still applies, and they use it to overcome hazardous operating conditions. We simply help them remember that, and we work hard to make their mission a little less dangerous.
I'm looking forward to coming home soon, but I am thankful for the opportunity to enhance the combat mission here and grow professionally too. My safety team's goal was to leave Bagram a better and safer place than when we arrived. Looking back, I see lots of ways we've made a difference, and the lessons learned here will last for a lifetime. If our contributions have helped to bring Afghanistan a few steps closer to becoming a free and independent nation, I will be all the more thankful to have served.