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NEWS | Aug. 22, 2008

Live to see next year’s 101 Critical Days of Summer

By Stuart Wyatt 437th Airlift wing ground safety chief

From out of nowhere, Labor Day is upon us. Independence day flew past and now we are looking at the end of summer. Is it just me or has this been the quickest 101 Critical Days of Summer ever? So how are we stacking up for this year's 101 Critical Days of Summer? I have to say that we have done very well ... at least so far.

To date, during the "101," we have experienced 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.

We are definitely in the "101" home stretch, but we cannot give up our vigilance. In fact, we may be more primed and ready for a serious mishap now than we have been all summer.

We worked hard to prepare for an operational readiness inspection while continuing to be the top C-17 wing in the Air Force. We have been focused on tasks and have been pushing ourselves hard to win. We subsequently earned an "Excellent" from a tough Air Mobility Command Inspector General team. This hard work and success is awesome, but it makes the old safety guys' "safety sense tingle."

Why is that? The harder we work, the harder we play. The harder we play, the more mishaps we have. When you work hard, you play hard -- that is to be expected. What we have to do is play smart while we play hard. Don't let your guard down; be extra vigilant. You can never rest when it comes to safety because injury, illness and death never take a break. Injury, illness and death are the enemy of every man, woman and child ... but we can beat this enemy.

How? Slow down when you drive. Don't tailgate; give yourself three seconds following distance. If you are driving a long way, get plenty of rest before heading out and stop before you are tired. Avoid driving at night if you can. If you are going to perform some recreational activity, study up on the safety rules before you head out the door.

Ultimately, we all want to have fun and come back home when the play is done. When you drive, drive smart. When you play, play smart. We all want to be around to see next year's 101 Critical Days of Summer.