Friday - April 08, 2005
Learning the Easy Way
The nozzle was heavy, but there were a hundred
guys behind me helping hold the fire hose. A fire raged in front of me. It was
hot out, and we had protective gear on making it hotter, and the flames just
made it worse. Working with the team, I opened the nozzle and aimed the stream
of water at the base of the flame. Lot's of shouting, commands being issued,
and the fire went dutifully out when the training Chief turned off the gas
supply. I was now officially qualified to go aboard ship as a midshipman with a
check in the box for firefighting
school.
But that wasn't what I really
learned that day. Shortly after, I learned one of the most valuable lessons of
my life, one that I think back to often while out here in combat
operations.
Once I finished pretending I put out the fire, I
stripped off the fire hat and coat and whatever other gear and I took my turn as
the safety watch while the next guy had a turn pretending to put out the fire.
Easy enough, right?
For some reason,
and I can't remember why, I was soaked with water, as were we all. My feet were
sloshing in my boots. The safety watch job was to stand by a big red round
valve handle sticking out of the ground, and if something happened, something
like a hose breaking, my job was to shut off the water through that
valve.
But the problem is that I was
stupid. Just another dumb teenaged kid with no grasp of the reality of this
job. Like everyone who finished before me, I didn't take the job seriously. I
laughed and joked, and I even sat on the ground and propped my feet on the valve
so that the water would pour out of my combat
boots.
Another ten minutes passed and
the midshipman behind me finished qualifying, and came to relieve me of my boot
draining job.
I don't remember his
name. I only remember that he was a few years older, prior enlisted. And then
something happened that has stayed with me until today. A minute after I
relinquished the safety watch, the fire hose coupling broke.
I've experienced garden hoses getting
loose before. A loose garden hose will knock you silly until you get it under
control. A fire hose, in contrast, will kill people and make large holes in
things like walls, helmets, heads. It will break bones. It will smash faces.
A loose fire hose is a very bad
thing.
But I didn't see the hose get
loose. I saw the coupling break, I saw water spray for a second, and then the
hose fell limply to the ground. The midshipman on watch saw the coupling break,
and turned off the valve with super human speed. A disaster was
averted.
The realization of what
happened shamed me. If that hose had burst just a few minutes earlier, there is
no way I would have shut off the water that fast. First, I would have to turn
around, on my butt, and see the coupling break. Then I would have to jump to my
feet and start turning the valve. A few of my friends might have had a chunk of
brass in their skulls by then.
I was
lucky. My shipmates were luckier. How fortunate that a more mature man was on
watch.
Ever since then, I watch for
safety briefs and take them with the utmost of seriousness. And now as an
officer in combat I try to apply this lesson to the Marines in my
charge.
One of the more common causes
of death over here is when vehicles run people over in the dark. At night
Marines will find a spot to sleep, hopefully in a camp. But they may not
realize that some truck or tank driver thinks that same spot is a nice pathway.
For that reason, all vehicles in troop areas have to have a ground guide to make
sure the way is clear. The ground guide walks in front, while the vehicle
creeps slowly behind him.
The other day
I was waiting for a convoy, it was about 5am and still dark. The escort
vehicles were getting in place and had their ground guides. But the ground
guide for the lead vehicle, either because he was tired, complacent, or just
plain stupid, wasn't paying attention. He was just going through the motions.
While he trudged along, the vehicle he was guiding was too close to the curb and
an overhanging eucalyptus tree bough. The packs hanging from the side of the
truck were slowly sheared off their straps while I watched.
I quickly jumped over and stopped the
vehicle and had it back up, but it was too late. Two Marines now have packs
without shoulder straps.
It took me a
while to find the NCO in charge of the security detail. In fact I found the
company commander first, a strong captain of Marines. I discussed with him my
concern that his Marines are either tired, complacent, or
stupid.
The poor sergeant. I think his
morning got off to a bad start after that. I heard some yelling during his
convoy brief, with some comments about "I just got my butt chewed because of an
idiot ground guide" or words to that
effect.
That's one of the benefits of
being older. You can remember all the dumb things you did. Sometimes the
wisdom from experience really comes from at one time being very stupid.
I feel bad for ruining his day. I
really do, he's a great NCO. But I hope that his ground guide gets to learn the
easy way about how important safety watches are. Just like I did.
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