Risk Management Magazine

Driver training is extremely complex, time consuming, and holds so much liability, accountability and responsibility for a commander. Yet, some leaders still feel that if a Soldier has a civilian driver’s license, they can operate any Army vehicle.

Just about every Soldier has experienced the CS grenade. While the gas may be uncomfortable, it's an effective training tool and everyone is OK after a short period of time — especially if they’re wearing a protective mask. I learned, however, that these types of grenades can be dangerous if you lose focus during training.

A major component of any training — military or civilian — is risk reduction. The only way for it to be effective is to implement risk management and not get careless. Years ago, my unit had an incident that could have turned fatal.