Risk Management Magazine

One of the closest calls I’ve experienced happened at the very beginning of my career where most great Army stories occur — the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin, California. I was a new infantry second lieutenant, freshly arriving at my armor battalion. Of what little I knew about being an officer, I knew even less about the (extremely important) role of the company XO.

Many of the articles in Risk Management magazine tell a story about a less-than-smart decision a co-worker, leader or subordinate made at some point in the author’s career. In this story, however, I am the happy idiot who made the mistake and taught the entire platoon an important lesson.

As we approached a hill, the convoy began to slow. Several of the other vehicles had difficulty getting up the slick roadway, but the entire convoy eventually made it to the top. We then started down the 5-percent-grade decline, which wasn’t a problem. The hazard turned out to be the sides of the road, which were about 6 inches lower than the center.