Risk Management Magazine

I learned from this experience, all right. I’ve made it my mission to ensure episodes like this don’t happen under my watch. My Soldiers’ safety is priority one.

About 2330, our sleep was interrupted by a knock on the door. A Soldier from another unit was looking for me. He was clearly nervous, and his panicked demeanor immediately raised concern. He explained that his two-vehicle element, unfamiliar with the routes and disoriented by the darkness, miscalculated a turn.

Eventually, all the recovery equipment was expended, but vehicles continued to fail. As a result, the return road march lasted four hours longer than planned. Fortunately, no lives were lost and injuries were limited to smashed fingers and minor cuts.