SECAF, CSAF announce 2008 safety award recipients

  • Published
  • By John Cochran
  • Air Force Safety Center
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFNS) --  Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz have announced the recipients of the 2008 Air Force safety awards. 

"We're grateful for the hard work of these award-winning individuals and organizations, and all Air Force safety professionals throughout the service," said Maj. Gen. Frederick F. Roggero, Air Force chief of safety. "Your commitment to protect the lives of our Airmen and safeguard our resources is exactly what the Air Force needs to deliver outstanding support to today's joint fight." 

Air Force Special Operations Command, United States Air Forces in Europe and the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center finished the year with numerous awards. 

In their respective competition categories, USAFE and AFOTEC both won the Secretary of the Air Force Safety Award, the service's highest safety award, and the Col. Will L. Tubbs Memorial Award, presented for the most effective ground safety programs. 

USAFE experienced its safest year since fiscal 1994. The "Your Life, Your Choice, Choose Wisely" campaign helped reduce ground fatalities by 75 percent. A roadshow effort at 12 bases in five countries was instrumental in cutting Class A mishaps by an impressive 66 percent. The command also exceeded the secretary of defense's 75 percent mishap-reduction goal in aviation and weapons safety. 

AFOTEC continued an outstanding trend of 34 years without a Class A or Class B on-duty or off-duty mishap. In-garrison and deployed safety programs also resulted in zero Class C civilian on-duty mishaps for the entire year. Additionally, AFOTEC officials completed nine tests and oversaw 16 flight programs with zero mishaps in 2008. 

AFSOC received the Order of Daedalians' Maj. Gen. Benjamin Foulois Trophy for accident prevention. Command officials decreased their Class A rate to zero and reduced their Class B rate by 46 percent. AFSOC attained these impressive statistics despite an aggressive operations tempo in all theaters of operation, totaling 154,673 flight hours. 

AFSOC's 4th Special Operations Squadron received Colombian Trophy honors as the Air Force general headquarters group with the lowest mishap rate in the preceding year. The squadron performed flawlessly through its seventh year of sustained combat operations supporting overseas contingency operations. In fiscal 2008, the squadron amassed 10,647 deployed man-days and 205 days of combat coverage. The unit led efforts and programs to alleviate risks associated with midair collisions, bird and wildlife strikes, aircrew fatigue and unmanned aerial vehicle recognition and avoidance, despite in-theater air traffic control limitations.

A second AFSOC unit, the 6th SOS, won the System of Cooperation Among the Air Forces of the Americas Flight Safety Award, which promotes safety in Western Hemisphere air forces by recognizing worldwide flight safety accomplishments. The squadron exemplified flight safety in eight different airframes, flying and training in every active theater of U.S. military operations without a single Class A or Class B mishap. The squadron flew 2,000 hours in C-130 Hercules aircraft and UH-1 Huey helicopters, and 2,500 hours in non-Air Force inventory aircraft, with zero mishaps.

The Chief of Staff of the Air Force Individual Safety Award, presented to the individual who made the greatest contributions to safety within the Air Force for the previous fiscal year, went to Lt. Col. John Slocum of the Arizona Air National Guard's 162nd Fighter Wing. 

Colonel Slocum's tireless efforts to improve safety resulted in the creation of the Maintenance Resource Management initiative, a success story in reducing human error in maintenance. He designed and authored a "Train-the-Trainer" syllabus for the standardized MRM courseware, which has been used to train more than 210 instructors to date.

Maj. Booth Johnston of the Texas Air National Guard's 111th Reconnaissance Squadron earned the Lt. Koren Kolligian Trophy recognizing outstanding airmanship by an aircrew member. 

While Major Johnston was engaged in F-16C "one-v-one" basic fighter maneuvers training, he sustained a severe back injury during a 9-G maneuver. He continued to safely fly his F-16C even as his physical condition degraded and he lost feeling in his hands and feet 

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