J.F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School zeroes in on safety

By Tina Ray/ParaglideJune 4, 2010

FORT BRAGG, N.C. - More than 2,500 Soldier and civilian personnel were scheduled to take part in Zero in on Safety Dayz at United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.

The two-day event was held May 24 to 25 on the grounds at the JFK plaza.

The aim of the event was to emphasize putting safety first, especially before the Memorial Day holiday, said Staff Sgt. Marshall Pesta, SWCS public affairs noncommissioned officer in charge.

"You don't want to see someone come back from a war zone and get hurt when they're home," he said.

Some of the Safety Dayz participants included representatives from the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office, Hope Mills Police, Fort Bragg Military Police K-9 and Womack Army Medical Center Preventive Medicine.

Sergeant Charles Haygood, of the Special Warfare Medical Group, tried on "drunk" goggles in the speed enforcement area at Safety Dayz. The goggles simulated being under the influence of alcohol.

Haygood failed at walking a straight line.

"(The goggles) are realistic. I closed my eyes but my mind had made up that I was dizzy, so it really didn't help at all," he said.

Todd Lott said he also found trying to walk the line difficult.

"It was almost impossible to walk," said Lott, SWCS training and doctrine writer.

Specialist Troy McDaniel, a Fort Bragg traffic accident investigator, said law enforcement have no tolerance for driving while impaired. In North Carolina, DWI is defined as a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher, he added.

Safety Dayz also focused on narcotic use and inappropriate use of explosives on the installation.

Police dogs are trained to detect narcotics or explosives, said Sgt. Sean Wess, a Soldier assigned to the 42nd Military Police Detachment.

"They (dogs) find drugs or bombs to keep the community safe and apprehend subjects when they flee from police," he said.

The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office also had its explosive detection dog, Tina, a 4-year-old female, Belgium Malinois, on hand. Tina can distinguish different explosive odors and alert on the right one, said Lt. Tim Loughman, supervisor and trainer for the CCSO K-9 unit.

At Womack Army Medical Center's preventive medicine booth, workers conducted cholesterol checks and distributed information about healthy living.

Though infections such as HIV and hepatitis exist on Fort Bragg, educating Soldiers and Families about preventive measures is important to mission success, said WAMC's Bernetta Wiggins.

"If we are there at the prevention stage, we can avoid these infections," Wiggins said. "It affects Family and friends and deployment in the military."

Army-wide, mission excellence is achieved through installation readiness.

Safety Dayz accomplished various goals. For one, by inviting representatives from surrounding communities to the event helped to fulfill the Army's mission of renewing its focus on community relationships to ensure high quality of life for Soldiers, Families and civilians.

"It's a good opportunity to get out and meet the individual members of the military," said Lt. David Servie, HMPD. "A lot of people I've talked to live in Hope Mills."

Additionally, Safety Dayz reinforces that the installation works proactively and aggressively to ensure safe installations for Soldiers, Families and civilians by making safety everyone's responsibility.

"It makes our job easier by having the community informed of what we do," Wess said.