Army NCO receives national motorcycle safety award

By Julie ShelleyFebruary 18, 2015

Staff Sgt. William T. Pendleton receives national motorcycle safety award
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

A Fort Stewart, Georgia, Soldier was recently recognized as the American Motorcyclist Association's Outstanding Road Rider for 2015.

Staff Sgt. William T. Pendleton has served as the 3rd Infantry Division's motorcycle safety program manager for nearly two years. During his tenure, he has expanded brigade-level programs to provide training and oversight on motorcycle safety to the entire division's 2,800 riders. Motorcycle fatalities within 3ID fell from 12 in previous years to zero in fiscal 2014, a key factor in his selection for the award from one of the motorcycling community's most active lobbying groups.

Pendleton, however, credits his chain of command -- Maj. Gen. John Murray, 3ID commanding general; Brig. Gen. James Blackburn, Task Force Marne commander; and Charles Fitzpatrick, division safety director -- for that accomplishment.

"They are ridiculously supportive of this program," Pendleton said. "They've seen the progress we've made and given me the tools I need. Being given the power to do what I do and just allowing me to do my job has been the single-biggest factor in our success."

Pendleton, who hails from a family of sport bike racers and came into the Army an experienced rider, was not always a model of safe riding behavior. As a young rider growing up in Florida, he often tried to emulate the moves he saw his parents and their colleagues performing on the racetrack.

"I wasn't always a safe rider; I evolved into one," he said. "Those mistakes have turned me into a better teacher, because I know what to look for to help Soldiers."

Neither did Pendleton come to 3ID with the intent of overhauling its motorcycle safety program. Instead, he made the existing program better. After completing refresher training twice, once following a deployment to Iraq and then a tour in Korea, he pitched an idea for expanded training to Fitzpatrick, who then proposed it to division leadership. From that idea grew Pendleton's unique position as one of the Army's few dedicated motorcycle safety program managers.

"I saw such a massive need for more training than was being done, and I was able to develop a new approach to the program," he said. "It was a little bit of a selfish motive too, because I didn't want one day for the Army to say, 'That's it, no more motorcycle riding.'"

The program's recipe for success is rooted in robust training, according to Pendleton. After looking at accident data, he and the division's leaders retooled refresher training to specifically address the hazards their Soldiers face during the first 90 days after deployment, which historically has been the unit's highest-risk period.

"We've been able to expand upon Installation Safety's Motorcycle Safety Foundation courses," he explained. "It's an outstanding program and the foundation for all motorcycle safety operations."

Pendleton said 3ID's long-term vision of a standardized, division-level motorcycle mentorship program with increased focus on training and risk recognition -- and an "expert rider" NCO as head motorcycle mentor -- would not have been possible without strong support from division leaders. With their blessing, he launched a certification course for the division's motorcycle mentors, the first of its kind in the Army.

"I really hold the mentors' feet to the fire when it comes to their riders," he said. "They've gotten the picture. They're the ones with their boots on the ground, making sure Soldiers do what they're supposed to do."

Command Sgt. Maj. Leeford C. Cain, U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center, lauded Pendleton's efforts and the example he sets as both a rider and NCO.

"NCOs unfortunately make up the largest share of the Army's motorcycle fatalities," he said. "Staff Sgt. Pendleton is exactly the kind of leader we need for positive change in that area. Hopefully this award will inspire others to follow in his footsteps."

Pendleton said he believes the demographics for junior NCOs, which have been trending younger during the past decade or so, and their subsequent inexperience might have something to do with that issue. Ultimately, however, it is the leader's responsibility to understand the implications of his or her decisions.

"We know what's right, we know what's wrong," he said. "It's up to us to do the research, not take motorcycle safety lightly and be the better rider we think we are. There's nothing like seat time on a motorcycle to make you a better rider."

Eight Army installations have contacted Pendleton during recent months for help in using 3ID's program as a best practice in designing their own motorcycle initiatives. The philosophy he shares is largely pragmatic.

"While we don't condone high-risk riding, our Soldiers are going to do what they want to do when they want to do it," he said. "I firmly believe it's our job not just to enforce the rules, but also give them the skills to recognize when they've exceeded their skill level and be able to recover from it. That way we're not burying another Soldier."

For more information on motorcycle safety, visit https://safety.army.mil.

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