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Summary of Mishaps
As a break from our usual folderol, we sometimes discuss serious mishaps. These mishaps had absolutely nothing humorous about them. They were traumatic and gruesome all the way around. We all wish they didn't happen, and we'd prefer not to read about them or write about them.
But they didn't just "happen." Sailors and Marines made decisions and took actions that caused them. I hope others can learn some lessons without the skid marks, broken glass and sirens.
One night in North Carolina, a couple E-3s were driving to their base, less than 5 miles away. The mishap report doesn't say how fast the driver was going, but you will get a graphic idea when you read what happened after he lost control on a curve.
The car traveled more than 400 feet over some marshy ground, hit an embankment and flew another 40 feet, at which point the car's roof hit a tree 12 feet off the ground.
Both were wearing seatbelts, but the driver's head and left arm ended up outside the window during the wreck, resulting in two broken vertebrae, two broken ribs, a 12-inch cut, chipped teeth, a broken jaw, a ruptured ear drum, a punctured artery in his neck and a herniated disk. His ear was nearly torn off.
The passenger's spinal cord was severed. He also suffered cuts on his face and chest injuries. Doctors considered paralysis likely, and the report listed him as a permanent total disability. Needless to say, the vehicle was totaled.
This one is a good lesson in the limitations of precautions. Seatbelts are absolutely necessary, but you still have to give them a chance to work. The mishap report says the driver had completed the AAA Driver Improvement course three days prior to the wreck. Again, a great idea, but attending is only part of the process. You still have to pay attention and apply what they try to teach you.
In Florida, a machinist's mate second class was on his way to his mother's house. His motorcycle stalled at a 4-way stop. When he restarted it, he over-accelerated, lost control and wrecked, breaking both legs and totaling his Kawasaki Ninja. Bystanders called 911. He was in a wheelchair when the mishap report was filed, and was expected to stay in one for three months. He had once had a motorcycle license, the report says, but it had "long since expired." He knew he should have retaken the motorcycle training course, and he didn't remember when he had last taken it (it had been at least five years).
An interior communications electrician third class had a blood alcohol content of 0.216 when he drove onto a sharply curved on-ramp. He was also texting on his cell phone, something that almost guaranteed he would lose control, which he did. The vehicle rolled, trapping him and his two passengers (Sailors from two other ships). The passengers were wearing seatbelts. They were treated at a hospital and released. The IC3 wasn't buckled up and died two days later from massive head injuries. He was at the wheel, the mishap report said, because "he wasn't as 'drunk' as the other two," a terrible strategy that is not only begging for trouble, but in this case, wasn't even true. The other two Sailors were at about 0.08, drunk enough to decide to ride with someone who, among other things, was driving on a suspended license.
A pair of corpsmen, a third class and a second class, spent an evening at a friend's house, then went to a bar until midnight. They were last seen getting into a cab to head back to their hotel. At 1:30 a.m., the HM2 texted a friend, inviting her to a cookout the next day. A little more than an hour later, a motorist reported seeing a wrecked truck in the woods on the side of a local highway. Police found both Sailors dead. They had been ejected after the driver tried to take a 50 mile per hour curve at 75, ran off the road and overcorrected. The truck had flipped twice after crossing the median.
Why had they changed their minds about staying in a hotel? Why were they in such a hurry to get home at one o'clock in the morning?
Just some things to think about. See you next week.