Safety critical for Team Travis members

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing chief of Safety
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Almost every evening driving home, a thousand thoughts race through my head. I'm absorbed by thoughts of projects that need to be finished, the schedule for tomorrow, upcoming deployments, briefing slides, not to mention trying to decide whether or not I should stop for gas and what on earth happened to my investments today? Suddenly I realize I'm pulling into the driveway and I can't remember anything at all about the drive home. Did I stop at the stop sign in the neighborhood? Did I use my turn signal? How many pedestrians did I pass and not even see?

The critical mission we accomplish every single day at Travis keeps all of us incredibly busy.

Add the off-duty pressures of high gas and food prices, a falling stock market, declining home values (with rising mortgages) and the approaching holiday season and we find ourselves under a significant amount of stress. All of that stress can be distracting, and dealing with what seems lately like a daily "the sky is falling" issue can cause us to lose sight of what really matters.

Nothing is more important than making sure every single person leaves work safely tonight and shows up safely tomorrow morning. Nothing is more critical to our Travis team or to the Air Force than the safety of each and every individual person.

The Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Gen. Norton Schwartz, has directed the Air Force to focus on a "back to basics" approach. The most fundamental part of the "back to basics" approach is your own personal safety and the safety of your wingman. If you aren't at work because of an injury, suddenly the reports, the briefings, wearing blues on Monday and the stock market lose some of their significance.

During a recent trip to the Valero Oil Refinery in Benicia to discuss the Voluntary Protection Program, one of the Valero employees showed us the back of his access badge. On it was a picture of his family and the statement "this is why I'm safe" (the MXG has the same thing on the back of their Knock-it-Off badges). Every day, as he goes about his business, he sees his family and thinks about them before every action he takes. We all claim we don't do things any different when an evaluator is watching ... what if your mom or significant other was watching? Take a few minutes and think about what is important to you. Try and keep that thought in mind as you accomplish your mission. Something drives each of us to work the long hours, whether it is family, friends or the opportunity to watch the mighty University of Texas Longhorns beat up on Missouri this weekend. Make sure that you are there to enjoy it.

Statistically, the most dangerous thing we do every day is get in our car and drive to and from work. More Airmen lose their lives in motor vehicle mishaps than any other mishap. There is a great deal of emphasis on motor vehicle safety during the 101 Critical Days of Summer campaign, but during the fall, the mishap rate is actually 40 percent greater. Think about that tonight as you're leaving to go home. Think about why it's important for you to make it back to work safely.

Then push all those distracting thoughts out of your head and make it a point to pay attention on the way home. And I'll make it a point to keep my eye out for every stop sign and pedestrian as I drive home tonight.