Risk Management Magazine

Sometimes, we make decisions contrary to our training. When we leave the military environment at the end of a work day, a lot of us leave our risk management training at the door. I speak from experience. Even though I had quickly thought through some aspects of risk management, I did not necessarily implement all of the steps one winter day a couple of years ago.

On a crisp December evening, I noticed some of the Christmas lights on our house were out. The unlit strand was along the trim in an area not for the faint of heart. In that spot, the trim rises sharply, perhaps 48-50 degrees, to an apex about 30 feet above the driveway. I have an extension ladder that easily reaches that area, so I wasn’t too concerned about making the repair.

Combat outposts on mountain pinnacles are used for observation points and located throughout the post’s training area. They usually are comprised of plywood shacks constructed from MRE boxes, sandbags and concertina wire. All of them present the potential for foreign object damage (FOD) and landing area hazards.