Risk Management Magazine

It was December at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and our unit was preparing for a field training exercise. Leadership was monitoring the weather because winters can be pretty crazy at Fort Sill. Temperatures were expected to hover around the freezing mark during the daytime and drop to minus 17 F at night. Whatever the weather, we were determined to be prepared.

Every Soldier's death or injury in training is a tragic loss to the unit and families. We must act at every level of leadership to prevent these needless losses.

Snow and ice — while not an uncommon forecast to receive depending on the season and operational environment, it contributes an additional layer of planning and tasks for aviators, maintainers and operations personnel. While deployed, this forecast is taken heavily into consideration, as it is a requirement to maintain mission-capable aircraft.