With every battalion in the brigade earning streamers for safety, and earning recognition as the only brigade to not have a ‘Class A’ or ‘Class B’ accident on Fort Hood for 2016, Ironhorse Soldiers and leaders have accomplished a feat for an organization of more than 5,000 personnel and millions of dollars’ worth of vehicles and equipment.
Throughout a complex and challenging year, Soldiers of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team “Ironhorse,” 1st Cavalry Division, garnered “Safety Excellence” streamers for all seven battalions, and nearly every company, for the fiscal year 2016.
“It means a lot because, as much as we’ve done as a brigade, from our rotation to National Training Center, to our rotation to South Korea, to all the bullets we’ve fired, all the gunneries we’ve done, and the miles we’ve driven, it’s been some intense training,” said David Sullivan, safety officer, 1st ABCT. “And to say we haven’t lost a life, we haven’t lost or damaged any Army property - that says a lot about the unit.”
The Army defines an accident as an unplanned event, or series of events which results in illness to Army military or Department of the Army civilian personnel, injury to on-duty DA civilians or to Army military personnel on-duty or off-duty, damage to Army property or to public/private property and/or injury or illness to non-Army personnel caused by Army operations.
The awarding of this streamer means the units of Ironhorse have not had a “Class A” or “Class B” accident for the year, which means that 1st ABCT hasn’t damaged property or equipment in the total of $500,000 or more and/or resulted in occupational illness resulting in permanent partial disability for its more than 4,100 Soldiers during the year.
For Ironhorse, 2016 started off with a rotation to the National Training Center in October, along with approximately 1,300 additional active duty, Army National Guard and Army Reserve Soldiers augmenting the brigade.
“We’ve planned and executed movement for an armored brigade combat team for more than 1,600 vehicles and pieces of equipment, and more than 5,000 personnel from 11 states,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Carlton Huguley, mobility technician, 1st ABCT.
Then in February, 1st ABCT took over 4,100 Soldiers 6,863 mi from Fort Hood to Camp Casey and Camp Hovey north of Seoul, South Korea,to help defend the Korean Peninsula from North Korean aggression.
While in South Korea, the brigade conducted four gunneries and three counter weapons of mass destruction exercises at the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex in conjunction with other rotational units and the Republic of Korea Army, and moved a battalion of 750 Soldiers along with tanks, equipment, and personnel through the Seoul greater metropolitan area, the fourth largest in the world.
This award isn’t just for the Soldiers safety during training, but also includes their activities outside the standard Army training and occupation such as motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, and privately-owned vehicles.
“A ‘Class A’ or ‘B’ accident is on or off-duty,” said Sullivan “An accident to a Soldiers is irrelevant what time of day it happens, but we haven’t had a POV accident, and again, that’s attributed to leaders being engaged with their Soldiers and talking about the risk on and off-duty.”
Second Lt. Brenda Rodriguez and Staff Sgt. David Crofutt, Co. A, 115th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st ABCT, who ensured their platoon safely transported 32 Soldiers, three humvees, and 15 fully-loaded M1120 Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks through Seoul, South Korea, to Camp Humphries, said complex operations require more than safety briefs.
“It was about making sure the Soldiers trusted us to get them to Camp Humphries and back, and keeping them safe and not gettting them lost in a foreign country,” said Crofutt.
Soldiers and leaders in the brigade credit many different resources and strategies for the unit’s success, including risk reduction working groups, engaged leadership and other factors, but one group was singled out more than the others.
“I think what contributed to the safety record is the junior leaders,” said Sullivan. “It’s junior leaders understanding what the mission is and the risk to their Soldiers and understanding the risk mitigation process.”