Moody teaches Street Smarts

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jamal Sutter
  • 23d Wing Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  Driving safely is a year-round effort but is especially important during the winter holidays when more accidents occur.

Two Tampa, Fla., firefighters traveled to Moody for a Street Smart safety presentation Nov. 16 to educate on and demonstrate the effects of poor decisions while traveling.

"It's to bring to the forefront the consequences of making poor choices and the things that can happen to you when you make those poor choices," said Greg McCarty, Street Smart presenter and retired Tampa Fire Rescue lieutenant. "By poor choices, we mean drinking and driving, not wearing a seatbelt, and texting and driving."

The presentation was available to Airmen 26 and younger, an age group typically more affected by traffic-related injuries and death caused by alcohol and other risk factors.

McCarty and his partner Ronny Garcia, another presenter and Tampa Fire Rescue firefighter, used graphic photos and detailed, first-hand stories throughout the presentation. Their approach depicted the aftermath caused by not driving safely to give a sensitive yet real perspective on some safety messages Airmen receive on a day-to-day basis.

"What we say is nothing they haven't heard their whole lives from when they were in school to now in the military hearing it from the safety staff," Garcia said. "The safety personnel here at Moody are trying to get the same message across. This is what we see when you do these things; make the choice."

Having a firefighter's background, the Street Smart team was able to share their experiences and even compared the impacts they've made on duty to those they make giving safety presentations.

"As a firefighter paramedic, you respond to so many calls, you may not make much of a difference in a person's life," Garcia said. "Then all of a sudden, you have one call that you're a small part or large part of saving a life, and it's that one call that makes everything worthwhile. You realize why you do what you do. It's an unbelievable feeling.

"Every time I do this presentation, believe it or not, I get that feeling," he added. "From the thanks I get from the people who see it and responses we get from them, they got it. And you realize, in some way, you may have saved a life."



So after the stories are told and the demonstration is over, it's ultimately up to each individual to take the message and decide how they will apply it.

"In the end, it's up to them," McCarty said. "Now they got some good information. They can use our information and hopefully live a long and healthy life, or they can refuse it. Life is about making choices."

The Street Smart program began in 1988 in Miami and was originally only provided to high schools after a firefighter witnessed so many students dying from traffic accidents due to bad choices, Garcia said. In 1999, Tampa picked up the program and it has since grown to become a world-wide initiative.