The Safety Standdown: REIMAGINED BY LT KEVIN MAZELLA AND AM1 DAVID MEADOR To the average Sailor, news of an upcoming safety standdown brings about groans, moans and an understandable state of general unrest. If you have been in the Navy for very long, you are all too familiar with sitting in an auditorium, listening to the same list of seasonal safety topics (grilling, traffic, or how not to burn down your house while frying a turkey). As you make your way out of those auditorium doors and into the bright light, you hear plenty of negative remarks or snide comments about a “waste of time” or “I’ve heard that same presenta-
14
tion a hundred times.” Due to this negative connotation, the Wolf Pack of HSM-75 decided to take a new twist on the classic safety standdown—calling it a “safety round robin.” The entire event was done in-house, using the squadron spaces and the collective knowledge of the Sailors attached to the command to facilitate a fast-paced, interactive, and enjoyable experience that included 10 integral, aviation-safety-related topics. On the morning of the safety round robin, the squadron held a quick quarters where the skipper
Approach
