Risk Management Magazine

On this day, I let complacency cause one of our Soldiers to be injured. Because we’d traveled that same stretch of road countless times before without issue, we continued the maneuver at the same speed and vehicle spacing even though we had limited visibility.

Suddenly, the FLA’s right-front end collapsed and the wheel disconnected from the hub assembly. The vehicle barreled through the wire fencing on the roadside at about 35 mph and skidded nearly 200 meters before coming to a stop.

Not all on-duty mishaps occur in tactical vehicles or aircraft. The things Soldiers do during downtime can just as easily affect mission readiness.