Photo By Kelly Morris | Col. Jacob W. "Jake" Miller, 128th Aviation Brigade commander, receives the U.S. Army...... read more read more
FORT RUCKER, Ala. — The 128th Aviation Brigade, U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence, received the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Fiscal Year 2022 Exceptional Organization Safety Award — Brigade Level at Fort Rucker, Alabama, Feb. 17, 2023.
Col. Jacob W. “Jake” Miller, 128th Aviation Brigade commander, received the award on behalf of the brigade, presented by Maj. Gen. Michael C. McCurry, U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Rucker commander.
The award recognizes the unit with the most effective overall safety program.
“I’m very proud of the team,” Miller said. “An Army Aviation safety culture is tremendously important. We start from ground zero with our aviation mechanics, so to get recognized for making sure that we are training safely is a big deal to us.”
The brigade, which is based at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., trains the Army’s helicopter mechanics, which come in 10 different specialties, Miller explained.
“They come to us from basic training, and we send them out to the combat aviation brigades as apprentice mechanics to work on helicopters. The other thing we do is train our aviation maintenance technician warrant officers for their Warrant Officer Basic Course and their Warrant Officer Advanced Course so they can go out to the combat aviation brigades and manage that maintenance,” he said.
The 128th Aviation Brigade is responsible for more than 1,000 U.S. and international military students attending 40 courses, 140 classes, operating throughout three shifts.
Through a holistic focus on safety in an initial military training environment, the brigade works diligently to improve the Army's overall readiness posture.
Among their accomplishments, the brigade’s safety office joined the Hampton Roads Federal Safety Council, which allowed them to benefit from the expertise of the safety offices from the Air Force, Navy, OSHA, and NASA to help maintain their currency in safety management knowledge.
Their motorcycle mentors attended instructor-level Motorcycle Safety Foundation courses to ensure every 128th Aviation Brigade rider is appropriately trained.
Each battalion within the brigade completed 12 consecutive months without experiencing a single Class A or Class B mishap.
The 128th Aviation Brigade effectively applied industry-standard best practices to address the highest risk encountered by trainees including slips, trips, and falls while performing maintenance training on top of aircraft. They implemented engineering controls such as wraparound maintenance platforms and guard rails to help prevent falls.
To address residual risk after they implemented engineering controls, the leaders required more instructors on hand to supervise specific tasks, with specific attention given to new students.
Soldiers and civilians of the 128th Aviation Brigade seek to improve their environment by constantly probing and scrutinizing processes and procedures to prevent potential mishaps.
Chief Warrant Officer 5 Demetrio “Jay” Castro III, Aviation Branch Safety Office director, commended the brigade’s leaders for their emphasis on safety.
“We say ‘everybody is a safety officer’, but if you don’t have a strong safety culture it’s really going to fall by the wayside. A successful safety program takes command influence and command buy-in,” which the brigade exemplifies, he said.
A strong safety culture is one where everyone is doing the right thing without having to be told, Castro explained.
“To say that we are proud of them, from the branch safety office, would be an understatement.”
| Date Taken: | 02.17.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 02.21.2023 17:13 |
| Story ID: | 438754 |
| Location: | FORT RUCKER, ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 108 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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