Risk Management Magazine

It was a typical day for the Headquarters and Headquarters Company scout platoon. Everyone came in early that day to pack and get ready for a field exercise.

Eight hours of sleep isn’t a luxury we’re all afforded. Unfortunately, it isn’t one of those basic needs your body can do without for long. I eventually found out you’ve got to pay your sleep debt.

Prior to our 2008 deployment to a small fire base in Iraq, our unit was told we’d be getting three M114 HMMWVs equipped with the Automatic Fire Extinguishing System. Since no one knew anything about the AFES, we were given a nice PowerPoint presentation to explain the system’s capabilities. While the presentation was informative, it later became apparent that a few of us didn’t pay close attention to it.