MARINE CORPS AIR STATION, Yuma -- Traditionally, with the summer months come an increase in the amount of off-duty injuries and fatalities for service members due to the increase in outdoor activities and traveling, among other things.
As a result, these high-risk days inspired the creation of the 101 Critical Days of Summer campaign, which is aimed at increasing accident awareness in service members.
These mishaps create a well-recognized negative trend, one that is shared by all services; the comparatively high toll of off-duty and recreational mishaps, according to the safetycenter.navy.mil Web site.
Since the 1960s, military safety specialists have called the period between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend the 'Critical Days of Summer.' By any measure, it is a period of increased risk for sailors and Marines.
According to the Web site, during the 2004 critical days between May 28 and Sept. 6 31 sailors and 15 Marines died in off-duty accidents. During these months, Marines are 14 percent more likely to die in an off-duty accident, and sailors have a 25 percent higher rate.
"This campaign was created so that supervisors can know what their Marines are doing for recreation on their off-duty time," said Gunnery Sgt. Martin A. Nelson, safety specialist, station Department of Safety and Standardization. "The supervisors can then provide their Marines with awareness, and ways to have fun without losing their toys, limbs and suffering fatalities."
The annual campaign began May 23 and will continue through Sept. 12. The station safety department plans to spread the word to increase awareness with a series of weekly themes including motorcycle safety, severe weather safety, heat stress awareness, alcohol and drug traffic safety, and firework safety.
Phil Bender, safety manager, DOSS, said the station has only had minor incidents and no fatalities so far this summer.
"We have been doing really well this summer, but we are still working to get the word on safety out," said Bender. "The most important thing is prevention."
While the station service members have had a good track record on safety so far this summer, Bender said it's important for the safety to continue to improve.
"Every Marine and sailor that we lose is one too many," said Bender. "Our goal is mishap reduction. At the end of the summer we want to look back and see no service member fatalities."`