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Fall safety, history day held at museum
by Dawn Elizabeth Pandoliano
Paraglide
The Airborne and Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville was host to the Soldiers of the 261st Multifunctional Medical Battalion’s Safety Stand-down Day Oct. 2, as the topic of fall safety and the many associated hazards were addressed.
“We hold safety briefings numerous times each month,” said Capt. Shane Smith, environmental science officer, 261st MMB. “We want to give our Soldiers as many tools as possible to remain safe and vigilant.”
Lt. Col. Raymond S. Dingle, commander, 261st MMB cautioned that safety is a way of life and can have potentially dangerous consequences when neglected.
“These consequences not only affect us, but our Family members, friends and even strangers when we are negligent in our safety standards and discipline,” said Dingle.
Soldiers attending agreed that the briefings are helpful reminders of good safety practices.
Spc. Rebba Row said that safety briefings are a good refresher because there are a lot of points in good safety habits that people tend to forget or not think about. Pfc. Jared Scott agreed.
“The briefings address a lot of situations that I might encounter, not just as a medic, but as a Soldier,” said Scott. “Good, common sense knowledge will help me help others as well as myself.”
Other than the occasional physical training injuries that occur, Smith described the battalion’s safety record as great. If anything, Smith said the most dangerous hazard for Soldiers is redundancy.
“Soldiers get into a pattern and forget to pay attention to detail and that’s where Soldiers get hurt,” Smith said. “As leaders, we need to reiterate safety and paying attention to detail in everything we do and make sure we give every Soldier the right tools for the job to remain safe.”
Holding the briefing at the ASOM has proven to be a great venue to include community involvement in expressing the importance of safety on and off post as well as educating with history.
“We wanted to show that as an Army, we go everywhere around the world,” Smith said. “If we can be safe abroad, we can be safe at home.”
Topics covered in the briefing included home, fire and driver safety, with guest speakers from the Fayetteville Fire Department, West Fayetteville Police Department, Fayetteville’s Department of Crime Prevention as well as a briefing from Fort Bragg’s Safety Installation Office.
According to Dingle, the next level of
improvement is a combination of “out of the box” interactive safety events with education to capture Soldiers’ attention and promote awareness. He said they are seeking additional safety events, education and activities that will leave a great impression on Soldiers in order to keep safety in the forefront of their actions.
“We must all make safety a part of our daily lives and not just on the motor pools or hazardous areas. Accidents occur in all aspects of our lives,” said Dingle. “Our motto is ‘Leadership Excellence: At Home, Abroad, Everywhere and by Everyone’; I would tell them also, ‘Safety Excellence: At Home, Abroad, Everywhere and by Everyone’ in order to mitigate and prevent the next accident.”
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