Air Force Reserve Command recently announced that the service is looking for young airmen, both officer and enlisted, who have experienced a safety mishap and want to share the lessons they have learned with their peers.
“AFRC is hoping to benchmark off what the Air Force has been doing with its ‘Airman-to-Airman’ safety advisory council program,” said Rich Burns, chief of ground safety programs for AFRC, in a release.
The Air Force chief of safety created “Airman-to-Airman” in 2009 in an effort to communicate better with young airmen ages 17 to 26, because “airmen in this age group are far more likely to be involved in an off-duty, off-base mishap than older airmen,” according to the release.
The thinking behind the program is that young airmen are more likely to listen to people their own age who share similar hobbies and take part in similar activities, the release says.
The “Airman-to-Airman” council is comprised of 10 airmen who have experienced mishaps and have proven their understanding of lessons learned as a result of their mishaps. These 10 airmen speak to groups about safety regarding other young airmen throughout the year. They also write articles about their experience and record videos that are featured on the Air Force Safety Center’s website.
Drinking and driving, texting while driving, wearing the proper motorcycle safety equipment, and driving on flooded roadways are just a few of the topics covered by the current members of the “Airman-to-Airman” advisory council.
“We know there are young airmen in AFRC who have experienced a mishap who could help their fellow airmen by sharing what they have learned,” Burns said. “The Air Force has had a lot of success with its ‘Airman-to-Airman’ program, and we are hoping to do the same in AFRC.”
“Our population is a little older than the active-duty Air Force’s so we are targeting a slightly different age group, but we are still hopeful that there are some young reservists out there who would be willing to share their safety lessons learned with their peers and maybe even serve on the Air Force’s next ‘Airman-to-Airman’ safety advisory council,” Burns said.
Members of the Air Force Reserve team between the ages of 19 and 30 who have a safety mishap story to tell should contact Bo Joyner at the AFRC Office of Public Affairs at DSN 497-1771 (commercial 478-327-1771) or e-mail him at bruce.joyner@us.af.mil.
Want to know more about the “Airman-to-Airman” program? Click here for more information.