Risk Management Magazine

There were a lot of risk factors that could have spelled disaster for this convoy, including fatigue, time of day, vehicle speed, convoy spacing, environmental hazards and lack of situational awareness. Thanks to good planning and risk analysis, my platoon took extra precautions against the added hazards.

During one deployment, I learned a valuable lesson that I shared with every unit I was assigned to afterward: While technological advancements can help make our jobs as Soldiers a little easier, we must fully understand the capabilities and limitations of new equipment.

While working as an assistant trainmaster for the Union Pacific Railroad, my job as a manager required me to be on call should any problems arise in my area, which ran from Kansas City, Missouri, to McAlester, Oklahoma. On a warm mid-summer evening, I got a call that would remind me just how precious life is and how we should never take it for granted.