On a warm and sunny morning, riders from the 158th Infantry Brigade from Camp Shelby, Miss., joined six other local area motorcycle clubs for a group ride down to the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The members from the 158th had recently attended a two-day advanced motorcycle safety course, and the group ride provided an opportunity for the Soldiers to employ their new skills.
Senior leaders from the 158th, U.S. Army Combat Readiness/Safety Center from Fort Rucker, Ala., and a member of the Hattiesburg (Miss.) city council addressed the riders before the ride.
"I am glad you all have chosen to start your ride down to Biloxi in my ward, in the city of Hattiesburg," said Ward Two Councilwoman Deborah Delgado. "You couldn't have picked better weather for your ride this morning. I appreciate all that our Soldiers do for us here, and I personally support rides like these that promote safety for all motorcyclists."
Next, Col. Paul Kries, commander of the 158th Infantry Brigade, shared some of the Army's recent motorcycle accidents involving senior leaders and the need for group rides to promote a safe riding culture.
"The theme of this group ride, leaders checking leaders, goes right to the heart of direct leader involvement with our motorcycle riders," Kries said. "As leaders, we must first take a hard look at each other to ensure we are doing it right."
Col. Jeffrey Dill, deputy commander of the USACR/Safety Center and Command Sgt. Major Leeford Cain, the USACR/Safety Center's senior enlisted Soldier, echoed Kries' call for leaders to know what right looks like in order to stop the recent trend of senior leader motorcycle accidents.
"We have seen our total number of accidental fatalities in all accidental fatality categories drop over the last two years," Dill said. "However, we have seen an increase in our senior leader motorcycle fatalities. Group rides are a great way to promote motorcycle safety and demonstrate to the less experienced riders what right looks like. These rides can also create positive conduct and behavior and serve as a force multiplier that supports an active motorcycle accident prevention program."
Cain added that although the Army has lost fewer Soldiers as a result of motorcycle accidents this year as compared to this time last year, losing one was one too many.
"We have also seen an increase in leaders being involved in fatal accidents this year," Cain said. "While some were just unavoidable, many of these accidents were indiscipline based. I'm glad to see the Hattiesburg community supporting efforts like these group rides that promote motorcycle safety for our Soldiers. It will take a total team effort to stop these accidental losses of our Soldiers and their leaders."
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