FORT RUCKER, Ala. \u2014 Chief Warrant Officer 4 Mark Leung knows he has his work cut out for him every time he hits the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leung is one of the Army\u2019s top accident investigators, assigned to the service\u2019s Combat Readiness Center at Fort Rucker. He\u2019s been there for around four years and investigated at least a dozen accidents, by his count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each time, he\u2019s an outsider, sent to scour every detail in search of how and why an accident unfolded. Though Leung\u2019s an aviator by trade, he mostly presides over ground mishap investigations now. And each time, he has to present the investigation\u2019s findings to a general who may not want to listen to a pilot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI absolutely have a chip on my shoulder when I walk in there, because 99% of the time, that general is not an aviator,\u201d said Leung. \u201cI have to go in there with my team that we\u2019ve assembled with our [subject matter experts, and] I have to make sure that there are no holes in there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CRC sends accident investigation teams to probe virtually all of the service\u2019s on-duty fatal accidents, as well as those that destroy aircraft. Army Times visited CRC headquarters and interviewed its senior leaders, accident investigators and data recovery experts to understand how the organization learns from deadly mishaps and communicates those lessons to the force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year, CRC officials took pride in a record-low number of on-duty accidental deaths, but those numbers were undercut by a rise in off-duty deaths, and they\u2019re rising again after a series of mishaps in recent months \u2014 tactical vehicle accidents, a bear attack and more. CRC officials spoke with Army Times in an effort to educate the force about their work, which includes a pending update to the driver training regulation, so that their lessons will stick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the time an investigator like Leung delivers the final findings and recommendations, experts from CRC and around the Army have completed a weeks- or months-long fact-finding process. Their probes involve dispatching a team and organizing the safety investigation board, examining the accident scene and conducting interviews, and analyzing the data and deliberating on their findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During their investigations, CRC and other Army experts delve into human \u2014 both personal and systemic \u2014 factors, material factors and environmental factors that precede accidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CRC investigations are completely distinct from legal investigations, explained the center\u2019s operations director Eric Schwegler. Some information found during accident investigations is considered completely private under safety privilege, which keeps even law enforcement from accessing witness interviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf I can promise a [witness] that everything that they tell me will be protected, then they may not lawyer up on me,\u201d said Schwegler. \u201cThey may tell me what happened, and sometimes they may be the only witness, whether they\u2019re responsible for the [mishap] or just simply saw what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t