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Gen. Mike Minihan, Commander of Air Mobility Command, visits the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station June 8, 2024.

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Niagara utilizes association, stresses important training

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Andrew Caya
  • 914th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
NIAGARA FALLS AIR RESERVE STATION --  Airmen of the 107th and 914th Airlift Wings participated in training that not only helps strengthens the work ethic among the troops but can help save lives.
The Airmen partook in their quarterly "Joint Safety Down Day" here, at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, N.Y., January 13.

"This type of training is important because the Airmen get to step away from the day to day rigors [of their jobs] and focus on safety," said 107th Airlift Wing Chief of Safety Lt. Col. Doug Eoute. "The most important thing for the Airmen is for them to slow the pace down and work together on the issues that affect their safety."

A briefer at the safety down day, Lt. Col. Eric Dopslaff, chief of Human Factors Investigations at the Air Force Safety Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. said that Airmen around the Air Force participate in and benefit from safety down days whether they are a reservist, guardsmen or on active duty.

Awareness in the key; said Colonel Dopslaff. If you make someone aware of an issue based on historical data, it will stay at the forefront of their mind for some time, so if you keep briefing safety and you keep the briefings, to the point, pertinent and relevant, it will help reduce mishaps and possibly save lives. It keeps safety at the front of the Airman's mind.

Lt. Col. Kelvin McElroy 914th Maintenance Group commander believes that this joint training session is not only great for Niagara but for the Air Force in general.
"We are an associated unit and the way maintenance works, all the shops are integrated; and from a from a safety standpoint, we are everybody's wingman," said Colonel McElroy.

Colonel McElroy elaborated on how this day incorporates the "Wingman concept." On Safety Down Day, the Airmen wear civilian clothes and share a meal together which allows Airmen to socialize and build relationships with people they don't normally see in the hangars or on the flightline.

Colonel McElroy agreed with Colonel Dopslaff 's notion that the joint training is great for Niagara's Airmen.

"I think it's awesome that the 107th and 914th share missions and share jobs. It builds a [mutual] knowledge, it shares experience across the board and it is total force integration. I've spent 18 years in the Guard and Reserve, and eight on active duty; from what I know of [the 107th and 914th] is they have a very good working relationship both on the aviation side and the maintenance side

Colonel McElroy also alluded to the fact that more Niagara Airmen are going to take advantage of programs like the safety down day, which in turn, will be good for Niagara.

What I think we are doing here is setting a positive tone for the association. The 914th Operations group has said that they are going to tie their safety down day into [maintenance's] safety down day and focus on safety from an operations perspective. I believe this joint training is beginning to spread to other sections [at Niagara], "said Colonel McElroy.