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Best AF Safety Quote of the Year.

Started by Stonewall, May 25, 2009, 02:40:42 AM

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Stonewall

"With zero fatalities, we must assume that everyone had their reflective belts on."

I heard it TDY at Lackland AFB on Thursday.  Joke or not (I think it is), I think it does demonstrate how often times, in the Air Force anyway, that safety can and does get in the way of doing our job.
Serving since 1987.

PHall

It's nothing new Kirt. Back in the mid to late 70's, if you worked on the flightline in SAC, you had to have 2 inch wide reflective tape sewn on the back of your field jacket and you had to wear a reflective belt during the hours of darkness.
So this current sillyness with the "Disco Belts" is nothing new. ::)

Stonewall

One (of many) silly thing that I experienced during my TDY was when were throwing hand grenades.  Naturally we had to wear our IBA (Individual Body Armor) and helmets.  But we had to take all the pouches off of our IBA so they wouldn't interfere with throwing the grenade.

Um...they made us wear it the way we woudn't wear it while deployed, possibly in combat.  I even had to take off my grenade pouches to throw grenades.
Serving since 1987.

Eclipse

#3
I was watching an old "Mail Call" on Hulu the other day, and they were showing a Marine practice range for hand grenades.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/59306/mail-call-episode-11#s-p3-sr-i0

Its obvious from the steps, holding and throwing motion that a lot of thought has been put into not dropping a live grenade, but I couldn't help thinking that on occasion some newb must bobble one - what do you do in that case?

"That Others May Zoom"

Stonewall

Quote from: Eclipse on May 25, 2009, 03:22:48 AMI couldn't help thinking that on occasion some newb must bobble one - what do you do in that case?

The Pit NCO grabs the recruit and throws him out of the pit and covers his body with his own.  The grenade would blow up in the pit and be deflected upward and away from the two people.  Although deaf with a headache, they should be relatively okay.
Serving since 1987.

jb512

You're always up there when I'm gone, Kirt.

I'm up at Fairchild right now going through SERE.  I should be back on June 13th if you're still around..

PHall

Quote from: jaybird512 on May 25, 2009, 04:08:17 AM
You're always up there when I'm gone, Kirt.

I'm up at Fairchild right now going through SERE.  I should be back on June 13th if you're still around..

Say hi to Igor for me! ;D

Stonewall

Quote from: jaybird512 on May 25, 2009, 04:08:17 AM
You're always up there when I'm gone, Kirt.

I'm up at Fairchild right now going through SERE.  I should be back on June 13th if you're still around..

I went through in the winter.  No bugs to eat, but plenty of snow and lots of spooning of young lieutenants...you know...to keep warm.

Dude, now that I think of it.  There's a shirt I want from the SERE BX.

On the front it has a small circular emblem with the foot with wings and says something, probably "Survival Evasion Resistance Escape".  On the back, it simply says "SERE" within the canopy of a parachute with a knife pointing upwards.

If you see this, please get me one.  Black, Gray, Blue, Tan, but preferably black in XL.

I'll pay for it and shipping.  It's my favorite shirt because it's not too gawdy.  Simple yet says what it needs to say.
Serving since 1987.

NIN

Quote from: Eclipse on May 25, 2009, 03:22:48 AM
Its obvious from the steps, holding and throwing motion that a lot of thought has been put into not dropping a live grenade, but I couldn't help thinking that on occasion some newb must bobble one - what do you do in that case?

Since grenades are on a 5-ish second fuse, you actually have a ton of time if you're heads up & paying attention. 

John Wayne would jump on the grenade to save the newb.  Then the end credits roll as the sun sets in the east.

However, in the RealWorld™, the grenade pits (at least, the ones I have been in) were equipped with a low wall on the back, and "grenade sumps" in the corners that direct the force of the grenade explosion upward.

Private drops the grenade, the NCO would try to kick the grenade into the sump while throwing himself & the troop over the wall. Even if you don't get the grenade into the sump, the wall will do a fine job of protecting you if you're prone on the ground, since you'd be in the "shadow" as far as fragments go.

I shorted a grenade in basic (nervous, I suppose, and not tremendously athletic) and the NCO landed on top of me as dirt rained down on us. His words to me? "Throw the next one farther, OK?"

Darin Ninness, Col, CAP
I have no responsibilities whatsoever
I like to have Difficult Adult Conversations™
The contents of this post are Copyright © 2007-2024 by NIN. All rights are reserved. Specific permission is given to quote this post here on CAP-Talk only.

Gunner C

Grenades are a great weapon but are inherently unsafe.  WIWA SFC our team was getting ready for a clandestine mission.  We were practicing our battle drill to break contact with an enemy unit.

We would all fire one magazine then run to the rear (each in turn, one at a time).  The tail end of the formation was me and my junior engineer.  We'd prepare a claymore with a 5 second fuse, fire our magazines and run.  The rest of the team would be in a skirmish line about 30 meters to the rear.  Half would fire another mag while the other half would move back another 50 meters, then the other half would run as they were covered the next retreat. 

The team sergeant would direct one guy to throw a grenade to further the withdrawals and give the bad guys an excuse to give up.  A former marine on the team who we all called "Gunny" threw his.  He was pretty beefy and threw it like he as in center field trying to catch a runner at home plate.  After it left his hand, we heard something like a ball hitting a bat.  Actually, it was the grenade hitting a North Carolina pine tree.  We looked up to see the grenade coming back to us.  Someone yelled "GRENADE" and everyone got as flat as possible.  It went off in the middle of us.  We were all covered with earth, mud, and pine needles.  None of us had any holes in us but none of could hear very well.   ;D  Gunny bought all of the rounds that night.

Safety quote?  Can't think of one.

BTCS1*

At a debrief after a GT sortie at the NYWG Apr 09 SAREX. My GT was tasked with locating "explosives" under blue tarps, they would be at a marina north of the Tappan Zee bridge, 1st off, do you know how many blue tarps there are at marinas! so back to topic, we were asked if we had found the tarps, we said yes, the came the real question, and how close did you get to the tarps? us:ummm, 4 feet? The safety officer: and what was supposed to be under the tarps? Us: Ohhhhh, right.   ;)
C/2d Lt. B. Garelick, CAP

RiverAux

#11
Quote from: BTCS1* on May 25, 2009, 07:34:45 PM
At a debrief after a GT sortie at the NYWG Apr 09 SAREX. My GT was tasked with locating "explosives" under blue tarps, they would be at a marina north of the Tappan Zee bridge, 1st off, do you know how many blue tarps there are at marinas! so back to topic, we were asked if we had found the tarps, we said yes, the came the real question, and how close did you get to the tarps? us:ummm, 4 feet? The safety officer: and what was supposed to be under the tarps? Us: Ohhhhh, right.   ;)
Hopefully the IC, PSC, OSC, GBD, and GTL have since been dismissed from CAP or at least had their qualifications yanked or suspended for accepting this as a legit CAP ground team mission in the first place.  The GT should never have gone out looking for explosives no matter how close you got to them.  They should have known better -- even for a SAREX.

jb512

Quote from: PHall on May 25, 2009, 04:11:02 AM
Quote from: jaybird512 on May 25, 2009, 04:08:17 AM
You're always up there when I'm gone, Kirt.

I'm up at Fairchild right now going through SERE.  I should be back on June 13th if you're still around..

Say hi to Igor for me! ;D

I'm going to say as little as possible to any of the "Igor"s during that part...   :-\

Smithsonia

Quote I heard was a heads up message to keep checking around wounded enemy message.

"The only really safe guy is the dead guy." BUT I guess it works everywhere now that I think about it.
With regards;
ED OBRIEN

desertengineer1

Quote from: Stonewall on May 25, 2009, 02:40:42 AM
"With zero fatalities, we must assume that everyone had their reflective belts on."

I heard it TDY at Lackland AFB on Thursday.  Joke or not (I think it is), I think it does demonstrate how often times, in the Air Force anyway, that safety can and does get in the way of doing our job.

(sigh)

As someone who has to be responsible for folks when I do AEF, I'm going to tell you what I tell them..  Got it down to a nice little speech.

Here's the skinny on reflective belts..

(if in Baghdad) You are at least 5 miles from the outer security perimeter.  There are no snipers lurking in the shadows, only errant rockets fired blindly from 5-10 miles away that land here every now and then.  Ditch the "Combat zone" whine.  After three rotations I'm tired of hearing it Groundhog Day style.

Understand this... Almost every fatality or injury labeled "non combat related" is from some dumba** getting run over by a vehicle, in the middle of the night, and the esuing conversation usually contains an "I just didn't see him/her, sir?".  The first AF casualty of Desert Storm was a guy getting run over by a truck in the dark.  We've got many more here since 2003.  Welcome to the world of Operational Risk Management.

Your penalty for someone else's stupidity is to wear the reflective belt at whatever time the wing commander tells you to.  If you have any concerns, I'm sure C/MSgt // SMsgt XXXX can help clarify them.
_________________________________________________________

I usually get a few confused looks after this speech (or some similar version).  Chief runs point with the stragglers.  Eventually everyone gets the idea...


desertengineer1

Quote from: Stonewall on May 25, 2009, 03:08:21 AM
One (of many) silly thing that I experienced during my TDY was when were throwing hand grenades....

Maybe it's just me, but with regard to safety, there's usually nothing good following this statement.

Stonewall

#16
Quote from: desertengineer1As someone who has to be responsible for folks when I do AEF, I'm going to tell you what I tell them..  Got it down to a nice little speech.

This comment was made in reference to AETC, not an AEF or any deployment hotspot.  It came after a CCT trainee died in the pool and it then turned to joking about safety and how it tends to get in the way of performing missions.  I thought it was quite an amusing statement, hence why I shared it here.

Losing life or limb is never a positive thing and most of the time there isn't a valid excuse for why something happened that resulted in the death of a troop, even in a war zone.  I would venture to say that more troops die in training than from combat related incidents these days.  I read a quote that stated more Marines died in motorcycle accidents in 2008 than in combat. 

Just today I was on Ft. Steward (Georgia).  The big scrolling sign said "FIVE DAYS SINCE OUR LAST TRAINING FATALITY", as if that was something to be proud of.

Shiznit happens and is usually the result of human error.  With or without a reflective belt, some will inevitably be hit by a car, CONUS and OCONUS.

I really just thought the statement was funny.  YMMV.
Serving since 1987.

PHall

Quote from: jaybird512 on May 26, 2009, 03:01:59 AM
Quote from: PHall on May 25, 2009, 04:11:02 AM
Quote from: jaybird512 on May 25, 2009, 04:08:17 AM
You're always up there when I'm gone, Kirt.

I'm up at Fairchild right now going through SERE.  I should be back on June 13th if you're still around..

Say hi to Igor for me! ;D

I'm going to say as little as possible to any of the "Igor"s during that part...   :-\

Uh Huh, Right....   ;)


BrandonKea

Quote from: Stonewall on May 26, 2009, 11:20:05 PM
Just today I was on Ft. Steward (Georgia).  The big scrolling sign said "FIVE DAYS SINCE OUR LAST TRAINING FATALITY", as if that was something to be proud of.

Maybe not something to be proud of, but a reminder nonetheless. They used to have the DUI Boards up at Offutt, "Last DUI (DATE) BY (SQUADRON)" Sometimes, the date would stay up for a long, long time, and sometimes, there'd be 3 in a row. Either way, it's something that people always look at.
Brandon Kea, Capt, CAP

ol'fido

Quote from: Gunner C on May 25, 2009, 02:15:51 PM
Grenades are a great weapon but are inherently unsafe.  WIWA SFC our team was getting ready for a clandestine mission.  We were practicing our battle drill to break contact with an enemy unit.

We would all fire one magazine then run to the rear (each in turn, one at a time).  The tail end of the formation was me and my junior engineer.  We'd prepare a claymore with a 5 second fuse, fire our magazines and run.  The rest of the team would be in a skirmish line about 30 meters to the rear.  Half would fire another mag while the other half would move back another 50 meters, then the other half would run as they were covered the next retreat. 

The team sergeant would direct one guy to throw a grenade to further the withdrawals and give the bad guys an excuse to give up.  A former marine on the team who we all called "Gunny" threw his.  He was pretty beefy and threw it like he as in center field trying to catch a runner at home plate.  After it left his hand, we heard something like a ball hitting a bat.  Actually, it was the grenade hitting a North Carolina pine tree.  We looked up to see the grenade coming back to us.  Someone yelled "GRENADE" and everyone got as flat as possible.  It went off in the middle of us.  We were all covered with earth, mud, and pine needles.  None of us had any holes in us but none of could hear very well.   ;D  Gunny bought all of the rounds that night.

Safety quote?  Can't think of one.

Ah! The infamous Australian peel back.
Lt. Col. Randy L. Mitchell
Historian, Group 1, IL-006