Eagle Express: Safety: Not a Program – A Way of Life Which Preserves Combat Capability Published Sept. 15, 2015 By Col. Michael Grismer 436th Airlift Wing commander DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- Team Dover, Recently, AMC experienced a string of mission impacting safety incidents which resulted in lost combat capability. Fortunately, no lives were lost; however, bent metal was the end state. The outcome could have easily been much worse. Now, more than ever, I need your help to build rock-solid discipline into everything we do. We have TOs, AFI's, checklists, and other guidance to keep us safe. I trust each of you to follow this guidance when no one is watching - this is what we do as professionals. The other piece here is shared discipline; we need to ensure all teammates are equipped with the resources, training, and supervision to succeed. Our first Commander in Chief, President George Washington was an early advocate of this principle and remarked "Nothing is more harmful to the Service than the neglect of discipline - for that discipline more than numbers gives one army superiority over another." Request each of you join me to Gain Another Perspective (GAP) on safety. Below, for your consideration, are three areas to help us get into the GAP. 1. Challenge Assumptions: Most of us have heard the saying "we always do it this way." While this saying may be true it is not always correct. Just because we've done it this way in the past, doesn't mean we should overlook opportunities to do things differently, better, and safer. Each of us has a responsibility to question assumptions, especially those which do not feel right. Ask what must be done...could be done...should be done. If you get a bad feeling, stop, call time-out, and elevate the situation to supervision or higher to make the appropriate ORM call. 2. Stop, Look, and Listen: Stop your normal routine...look around...listen for cues and clues. I call this one Van Halen's brown M&Ms. I know most of you don't remember the early 1980's, when Van Halen was the first band to take huge productions into third-level markets which lacked the infrastructure for big concerts. Support details for their traveling road show were outlined in a contract with a 53 page rider identifying requirements for stages, lighting, power and pyrotechnics to name a few. It also specified backstage munchies to include M & M's with a special caution "NO BROWN ONES." The press had a heyday highlighting an apparent extravagant excess from this prima donna group. No one suspected lead singer David Lee Roth's genius as he explained the method to his madness was not an act of impulse, but it served as a practical purpose for determining whether contract technical specifications had been met. As the legendary rocker explained, "I would walk backstage, if I saw a brown M&M in that bowl. . .well, line-check the entire production. Guaranteed you're going to arrive at a technical error. They didn't read the contract. Guaranteed you'd run into a problem. Sometimes it would threaten to just destroy the whole show. Something like, literally, life-threatening." Each of us has Brown M&Ms we look for in our workplace. When we see them, we dig deeper and often find something which prevents something bad from happening. 3. Build Strategic Eyesight: Recognize patterns, interpret signals, and integrate information. This is where we pull together from our past experiences; couple it with job knowledge, situational awareness, and proficiency to recognize when something is not right. Think of this one as wisdom, something we continually develop over time which helps us to execute sound actions and decisions. Thanks for making safety part of your lifestyle.