Safety corner

Rollovers continue to be a hazard for deployed U.S. Forces in Operation Enduring Freedom XII. After only one short month in country the brigade has already experienced four rollovers resulting in two soldiers evacuated to the CSH and many thousands of dollars in damages. Welcome to Afghanistan! The bottom line is that rollovers are going to continue to happen here just as the trend has shown in past years. The terrain in Afghanistan is just not suited for the bulky MRAP vehicles, especially in the mountainous regions. These narrow un-surfaced road edges just can’t handle the tremendous weight, which leads to the majority of rollovers in country. But given the option for survivability, I believe every soldier would prefer these heavier vehicles over the obvious outcome of an IED blast under a less armored vehicle.

Since the trend indicates that we will not eliminate rollovers, we must adapt to reducing these hazards as best we can. For instance, one excellent example is after the Spartan Commander and CSM heard the reports of numerous rollovers occurring during limited visibility while driving with black-out drive and NVDs, Spartan 6 and Spartan 7 decided to think outside the tactical box. They decided to try a new approach; driving at night with headlights on. Let’s face it, we never surprised any insurgents with any vehicle convoys anyhow; I mean it’s not like these MRAPs have stealth engines. With the slow speeds and difficulties that drivers had staying in the tracks of vehicles to their front while wearing night vision with limited illumination led to the roads giving away beneath them as they wandered onto the shoulders. By changing it up, we have not encountered another rollover, knock on wood, and with more illumination, soldiers can clear for IEDs much easier at night. This mitigation although possibly temporary depending on enemy actions was an effective reducer.

We also have the most positive control measure in preventing injuries once these rollovers happen; leaders enforcing the standards prior to exiting the wire. It is paramount that leaders ensure every vehicle crew continues to rehearse rollover drills, check serviceability of restraints and secure loads prior to movement; even a loose M4 magazine could ruin someone’s day by impacting with their face. Once movement commences, leaders must also ensure that gunners are riding at name tag defilade at all times. With these continued controls and effective leadership, we can drastically reduce the number of rollovers and eliminate rollover injuries entirely.