FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — Fort Leonard Wood’s Maneuver Support Center of Excellence demonstrated their commitment to safety excellence during fiscal year 2022, earning six U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command safety awards for their efforts.
Fort Leonard Wood winners included:
- the U.S. Army Military Police School, in the Army Direct Reporting Unit and All Other One-Star Commands category;
- the Horizontal Skills Division, 554th Engineer Battalion, in the Army Industrial Operations Safety category;
- Maj. Matthew Songe, 701st Military Police Battalion, in the Field Grade Commissioned Officer category;
- Chief Warrant Officer 3 Bret Bryson, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 14th Military Police Brigade, in the Warrant Officer category;
- Staff Sgt. William Beuch, 1st Battalion, 48th Infantry Regiment, in the Enlisted (E-5 through E-9) category; and
- Spc. Tavon Coleman, 3rd Battalion, 10th Infantry Regiment, in the Enlisted (E-1 through E-4) category.
According to Oscar Powers, MSCoE Safety director, the winners represent all the great thing things being accomplished safely here.
“Risk management and mishap prevention is something that the entire team at Fort Leonard Wood does extremely well,” Powers said.
As a multi-service institution, USAMPS trained more than 16,000 service members, civilians and foreign nationals during the fiscal year with no Class A mishaps, wrote then-Col. (now Brig. Gen.) Sarah Albrycht, USAMPS commandant, in her Oct. 13 nomination letter. The school’s “engaged leaders” consistently uses sound judgement to manage risk, based on the unique training they conduct within the MP Regiment, she wrote.
“Engaged leaders are the key to reducing our most prevalent cause of Army mishaps – human error,” she added.
The Horizontal Skills Division, which falls under the 554th Engineer Battalion, executes and supports interservice engineer training to produce skilled, values- and warrior-based, combat-ready horizontal construction engineers. They have completed 12 consecutive months without experiencing a Soldier or unit at-fault Class A or B accident, wrote Lt. Col. John Moran, 554th En. Bn. commander, in his nomination letter.
The HSD is “accident free due to a comprehensive risk management program with safety implemented across all teams involved with the heavy equipment training mission,” Moran wrote.
Songe, who served as the executive officer for the 701st during the fiscal year, was astute at maintaining oversight and quality control of the battalion’s safety program, wrote Col. Kirk Whittenberger, 14th MP Brigade commander, in his nomination letter, noting the unit safely trained more than 1,700 Soldiers in tasks such as hand grenade throwing, small arms and buddy team live fire, and 12 iterations of the Night Infiltration Course.
“His implementation of specific control measures (to) mitigate complacency in routine training activities reduced safety incidents by 40 percent and resulted in zero serious accidents or injuries in the battalion during the fiscal year,” Whittenberger wrote.
Bryson, who served as the branch chief of Police Intelligence Operations with the USAMPS’s Military Police Investigation Division during the fiscal year, oversaw the tactical elements of law enforcement training for more than 500 service members, civilians and foreign nationals.
“During that period, CW3 Bryson employed risk-mitigation practices, which resulted in zero reported injuries or safety concerns,” wrote Chief Warrant Officer 4 Leona Mansapit, MPID chief, in her nomination letter.
As a drill sergeant with Company D, 1st Battalion, 48th Infantry Regiment, Beuch helped oversee the transformation and training of more than 150 civilians into Soldiers through basic combat training. He also performed admirably as a company leader in safety, and the unit incurred no Class A, B, C or D accidents while, training according to his nomination letter.
“His commitment day in and day out allowed the company to safely complete more cycles than any other company in the battalion,” his nomination reads.
Beuch’s “ceaseless focus and alert engagement with training and safety” paid off when a trainee began choking in a dining facility. Beuch successfully cleared the blockage, saving the trainee’s life.
Coleman, a transportation driver with 3rd Battalion, 10th Infantry Regiment, also took on the role of field sanitation specialist, keeping the battalion informed of changing health guidance as the pandemic continued in the fiscal year, wrote Lt. Col. Jarrad Glasenapp, the battalion’s commander, in his nomination letter. Coleman also conducted sanitation inspections on all company barracks buildings, assisting company commanders in meeting their environmental health standards.
Coleman has “diligently executed the duties of a wheeled motor vehicle operator and a field sanitation specialist above the standard,” Glasenapp wrote.
The TRADOC winners are now in the running for Army-wide recognition in their respective categories. Army-level winners are expected to be announced in the spring, Powers said.
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