The Mobility Forum The Mobility Forum

Many of us drive to the beach each summer, where we can soak up the sun, feel the hot sand beneath our feet, and beat the season’s heat by racing into the cool ocean waves. However, these pastimes include three of the biggest risks during the 101 Critical Days of Summer: driving, excessive heat, and water.

“Why did I do that?” I say to myself as I recognize another bad decision with an even worse outcome. Inside, I feel awful; I cannot seem to do anything right, and the more I struggle, the more mistakes I make. This process leads to a circular pattern of thinking called emotional quicksand. The more you struggle with the problem, the more stuck you become. Ultimately, without intervention or the right tools to escape, it will completely envelop you and can lead to your destruction.

My father likes to say, “In life, you can be a hammer or you can be a nail, but you can never be both; which one are you?” I always took this saying to mean that you can be either a leader or a follower. You can be the one giving orders or the one taking them, and, to me, that was a simple choice. Be the hammer, right? When I told him I was a hammer, he said: “Really? Brute force and no brain? That does not seem like you at all.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes)—also known as e-cigs, vapes, e-hookahs, vape pens, and electronic nicotine delivery systems—mimic traditional smoking devices. Like traditional devices (e.g., cigarettes, pipes, and cigars), e-cigarettes can contain nicotine, flavorings, and other chemicals harmful to one’s physical, mental, and environmental health. Even e-cigarettes claiming to be free of nicotine contain trace amounts of the addictive substance. E-cigarettes also use a battery to heat and transform a liquid into the aerosol that users inhale, at which point more toxic chemicals and risks are formed.

By completing a task multiple times, you develop the muscle memory and instinctual mechanical skills needed to complete the task without thinking. It is not always easy to complete the same task over and over again in many environments, especially military environments. This is how gaming technology and military training come together to help Airmen become proficient without the danger and cost of traditional training. The use of technology gives the Airmen an edge that is needed to compete in contested environments. With the military stepping into the metaverse, it is important to understand the pros and cons of technology usage in training.

On August 28, 2023, the crew of RCH217 performed admirably when faced with a “left wing bleed air leak, not isolated” warning at 23,000 feet and 160 knots on initial climb out from Ramstein Air Base (AB), Germany.

A 709th Airlift Squadron (AS) aircrew on Dover Air Force Base (AFB) received a quarterly safety award on Oct. 14, 2023, for their calm, measured responses to multiple in-flight emergencies. The emergencies occurred on a C-5M Super Galaxy as it was being flown back to Dover AFB from Royal Air Force Mildenhall in Suffolk, England.

With no shortage of large-scale, impactful world events to support and rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific to prepare for, it is not surprising that a central theme of the 55th Annual Airlift/Tanker Association (A/TA) Convention was “Readiness.” However, another theme recurring throughout the keynotes, seminars, and panels was the importance of “Human Connection.”

On the afternoon of Aug. 1, 2023, Airmen at Joint Base (JB) Charleston, SC, jumped into action, responding to an in-flight emergency for a Charleston County Sheriff office’s Bell 407 Rotorcraft, callsign AIR1.

On June 27, 2024, an annual day of awareness recognizes millions of Americans suffering from a serious psychiatric condition called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD Awareness Day was established in 2010 in tribute to one of our service members, SSgt Joe Biel of the North Dakota National Guard, who died by suicide after suffering from PTSD following two tours in Iraq. June 27 was Biel’s birthday.

Swimming is a sport enjoyed by people of all ages; however, water safety must be a top priority for both swimmers and those supervising others as they swim. One of the dangers is distracted swimming, whether it be a swimmer or a person supervising a swimmer.

Many people enjoy the excitement of riding motorcycles; however, as David R. Brandt, Motorcycle Safety Program Manager for the Headquarters Air Force Safety Center, Kirtland Air Force Base, NM, pointed out, it does not take much to seriously hurt yourself on two wheels. When Brandt came into the seat three years ago, the Air Force had experienced a year of low motorcycle mishap numbers, but according to Brandt, they have seen the number of mishaps increase pretty dramatically since then. “We tend to have this trend that is riders just blatantly disregarding regulatory guidance,” said Brandt, “so our biggest problem is really the [rider’s] attitude when it comes to riding.”