AFSOC finds the key to combine combat and safety

Published March 5, 2015
By 1st Lt. Ben Sowers
AFSOC Public Affairs

HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. -- Air Commandos flew 100,000 combat hours in 2014, across five continents without a single Class A mishap. And they did it predominantly at night, often hugging the terrain, right in the enemy’s back yard. Air Force Special Operations Command Airmen proved again that they can be a part of the most combat intensive command in the Air Force and still keep safety a top priority by taking home three Air Force-level safety awards for 2014.

AFSOC won the Major General Benjamin D. Foulois Award for the second consecutive year as the Air Force’s best flight safety program. This prestigious award recognizes the major command with the best flight safety record. AFSOC led the Air Force with no Class A mishaps in two years, despite the challenges of flying six separate types of aircraft, mostly at night for 115,000 total hours. As the workhorse of Special Operations Forces troop movement and intratheater airlift, AFSOC aircraft overcame the constant hazards of landing on austere and unimproved fields. AFSOC also created Africa’s first web-based Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard map, increasing crews’ awareness of bird conditions across the continent.

“Safety is paramount to the first Special Operations Forces Truth, that ‘humans are more important than hardware,’ said Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold, AFSOC commander. “These awards are a testament to our Air Commandos and their outstanding ability to get the job done and get it done safely.”

The 27th Special Operations Wing safety team at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, captured the Air Force Chief of Safety Outstanding Achievement Award for Weapons Safety. Along with benchmarking the AFSOC standard for a comprehensive air show risk assessment plan, Cannon’s safety office oversaw the largest military construction program in the nation last year, including 38 projects at an estimated $1.29 billion; ensuring Occupational Safety and Health Administration and safety compliance.

Additionally, the 353d Special Operations Group at Kadena Air Base, Japan, earned the Air Force Chief of Safety Outstanding Achievement Award for Ground Safety, Category IV. The group’s safety education programs comprehensively trained 1,675 assigned and deployed people in a range of risk management, supervisory, motorcycle, and traffic safety subjects. Throughout Operation Enduring Freedom in the Philippines and Afghanistan, as well as in disaster relief operations following the strongest storm to ever make landfall in the Pacific, the group maintained an exceptional safety record of no Class A or B mishaps. Finally, unit safety people conducted 48 spot inspections to cement safety and operations integration, earning the group a command-first “highly effective” rating during its 2014 Unit Effectiveness Inspection.

“It does not surprise me that AFSOC did so well. I am enormously proud of the matchless motivation, dedication and professionalism that define this command,” Heithold said.

Winning Air Force-level safety accolades is nothing new for AFSOC. This year, the command took its sixth Foulois Trophy since 1996.

Col. Scott Wolfe, AFSOC director of safety, attributes the command’s success to Air Commando culture.

“We are out there doing the right things the right way,” he said. “Winning these awards acknowledges that we are on the right path in our safety culture, which is well nested in our AFSOC priorities.”

Wolfe said winning awards in flight, weapons and ground safety shows how everyone in AFSOC, in every job and at every level, is contributing to the command’s safety accomplishments, despite the inherent risks involved.

“Our goal in AFSOC Safety is to help leadership at all levels create a culture of proactive safety, while ensuring mission success,” Wolfe said.

AFSOC Airmen perform dangerous jobs in some of the most dangerous parts of the world. But, according to Wolfe, the way Air Commandos approach and mitigate risk contributes to their outstanding safety record.

These latest honors attest to how America’s Air Commandos are the safest in the Air Force, day or night, any time, any place.

Aircraft Safety