Guard to recognize its motorcycle safety team

BANGOR – A motorcycle gang will be honored today at the Maine Air National Guard base.

The Guard’s four-member group of motorcycle safety instructors has been selected as the base’s team of the quarter and will be recognized for their exceptional teamwork.

Certified through the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, the volunteer group teaches classes several times a year to military personnel, primarily other Air Guard members, at a course on base.

Some students have never sat on a bike before, while others are experienced riders looking to refresh their skills, Technical Sgt. John Kelley said Friday.

“We end up breaking a lot of bad habits,” he said.

The team’s other members are Senior Master Sgt. John Edwards, Master Sgt. Stephen Fields and Technical Sgt. Donald Tate.

Their rank, however, is irrelevant when it comes to class. Instructors and students – officers and enlisted alike – wear civilian clothes. That way, the instructors feel free to teach even if they’re outranked, Fields said.

Senior leadership at the base has, in fact, supported the motorcycle safety program, Fields said. The classes began three years ago after the Department of Defense mandated that anyone riding a motorcycle on a military installation have some training in motorcycle safety. The mandate in turn compelled base personnel to provide training, Kelley said.

Riders who complete the two-day beginner course are awarded their motorcycle endorsement and then are issued a state license. A one-day course is offered to experienced riders.

Beginning in April, all unit members riding a motorcycle on base will be required to have taken the team’s course, which more than 150 students have taken so far.

“We’re going to teach people how not to have accidents,” Edwards said.