MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- The Secretary of the Navy and the commandant of the Marine Corps presented the station with the Marine Corps Safety Excellence Warrior Preservation Award and the Secretary of the Navy Safety Award this past month.
The awards are presented annually to Marine Corps installations with wellestablished, comprehensive safety programs to keep service members and material assets safe.
“This is not a safety office award; it is a community award,” said Richard Perry, station safety director.
“The station gets to claim the award, but in truth, it took the efforts of everyone on the station to include the tenant commands.”
The Marine Corps Safety Excellence Warrior Preservation Award includes a commemorative wall plaque and citation signed by the Commandant of the Marine Corps authorizing the use of the title “Marine Corps Center of Safety Excellence.”
The SECNAV safety award includes a plaque and a Secretary of the Navy safety flag to be flown for one year.
Also included with the SECNAV award is a message from Ray Mabus, Secretary of the Navy, that reads: “Congratulations to all DoN safety excellence recipients. Your integration of ‘mission first, safety always ‘into your command culture was superlative and you have justly earned the right to my safety flag for the next year. Your employment of operational risk management techniques, both on and off-duty, demonstrated total command involvement and impressive front office safety commitment. Your commitment to safety has no doubt prevented loss of life, and precluded countless injuries and damage to our material assets. Your challenge now is to share your lessons learned with others and mentor those commands that strive to obtain the safety excellence you have achieved.”
Perry said winning the award involved everyone aboard the station and proves that members of the community look after each other and take accountability for their actions.
“(The awards) let (other military installations) know that MCAS Iwakuni is committed to excellence in everything that it does,” said Perry.
“Safety does not come by accident. It is a result of accomplishing the mission with attention to detail.”
This marks the first time the station has received either award.