SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. –
Air Mobility Command's 101 Critical Days of Summer campaign was its most successful one ever, with no fatalities among AMC Airmen between the Memorial Day and Labor Day holidays.
"I want to express my gratitude to every member of AMC for making this year's 101 Critical Days of Summer campaign our most successful to date," said AMC commander Gen. Arthur Lichte. "Due to ... strong leadership, combined with everyone's outstanding efforts, Air Mobility Command was able to meet the command goal of zero fatalities for the very first time."
The campaign was themed "Be Your Own Safety Manager" and supported a similar Air Force-wide promotion which is conducted annually. The campaign increases personal awareness of safety risks and is aimed at reducing the number of preventable mishaps and deaths during June, July and August.
Personal responsibility, traffic safety awareness and a "wingman" attitude were cornerstones to the success of the 2008 campaign, said General Lichte.
"This year's success is a direct reflection of each individual embracing their responsibility to 'Be Their Own Safety Manager,' as well as a reflection of our command's strong wingman culture," he said.
General Lichte also said the command will continue to emphasize traffic safety by making a number of safe-driving courses and programs available, such as the National Safety Council's "Alive at 25" Defensive Driving Course for younger Airmen and the Air Force Safety Center's "Save-A-Life Tour" -- an awareness program to increase understanding of the serious risks of drinking and driving.
"As an Air Force, we continue to lose more Airmen in traffic accidents than we do conducting operations around the globe. We must continue to place special emphasis on driving mishaps," he said.
General Lichte added that safety-mindedness is essential to saving lives year-round.
"Even though the 2008 campaign is officially done, we cannot become complacent. Our keen focus on personal safety must continue," he said.
Here, locally at Charleston AFB, the 437th Airlift Wing Safety Office reported one class B off-duty mishap when a member cut off the tip of his thumb with a circular saw, and one class B on-duty aircraft ground mishap when an auxiliary power unit shelled out.
According to Stu Wyatt, 437 AW chief of ground safety, the campaign was a success not only because of the emphasis by higher headquarters, but due to the effort of every Team Charleston member to be safety conscious, especially with the high operations tempo and the operational readiness inspection.