Soldiers receive FORSCOM-level Safety Award

FORT BLISS, TX, UNITED STATES

11.17.2016

Story by Staff Sgt. Tanjie Daniels 

1st Armored Division Combat Aviation Brigade

Commanders may present this award to aircrew members with at least 500 flight hours of accident-free hours as a crewmember, and aircrew members can receive another for every additional 500 hours completed accident free. However, to be eligible for this FORSCOM-level award, you must have a minimum of 3,000 eligible flight hours accident free and every 1,000 eligible flight hours thereafter, according to FORSCOM Regulation 385-1.
“This award is significant in the fact that as you reach 3,000; 4,000; and 5,000 hour levels the herd begins to thin out,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 James Cobb, the Safety Officer for the CAB. “Different Functional areas fly less and some individuals will do non-flying jobs as they get more senior, making it harder to hit the higher hour levels.”
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Paul Bretey, an AH-64 Apache pilot, flew a total of 5,000 accident-free flight hours.
“Receiving this award is really a testament to all of the people that were involved,” said Bretey. “I’m especially proud to give all of the credit for this award to the maintainers that ensured that I always have a safe and reliable aircraft to fly.”
“This hour level takes a career to amass and to do it without any serious incidents is an achievement,” said Cobb
Staff Sgt. Mitchell Moore, an Unmanned Aircraft Systems pilot, flew his UAS system accident free for a total of 2,000 hours.
FORSCOM’s requirement to receive the award for UAS systems, is a minimum of 2,000 eligible flight hours accident free and every 1,000 eligible flight hours thereafter.
“The significance of Moore’s award is that it is the first one given out for UAS accident free hours at this high of an hour level by FORSCOM,” said Cobb.
“I thought it was pretty cool to get recognized as a UAS operator,” said Moore. “It’s nice to get the same kind of recognition as the manned-aircraft operators.”
Bretey went on to say, “I’d also like to give credit to the aviators with whom I have flown, it is really the dedication and professionalism of those individuals that contributed to this award.”

• Date Taken: 11.17.2016
• Date Posted: 12.13.2016 13:34
• Story ID: 217536
• Location: FORT BLISS, TX, US