Motorcycle safety course builds skills, strengthens readiness at Blount Island

Retired U.S. Navy Chief Warrant Officer 4 Greg Wojciechowski watched as Marine Corps Sgt. Bryan McDougal eased a Suzuki TU250X across the motorcycle training range June 24 at Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island in Florida. It was McDougal's first time on a motorcycle.

McDougal joined four other novice riders in completing a basic rider course June 24-25 at the slipway facility along the St. Johns River. The recurring training builds rider proficiency while helping protect service members, civilians and military family members on and off duty.

With motorcyclists facing a fatal crash rate far higher than passenger vehicle occupants, the Marine Corps requires rider training as part of its broader effort to preserve its people and maintain readiness. The course follows the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Basic RiderCourse, the nationally recognized curriculum used by military installations and state licensing agencies across the country to prepare novice riders through classroom instruction and hands-on range exercises.

Seats are filled in priority order, beginning with active-duty Marines and other military personnel before expanding to eligible government civilian employees, military dependents, retirees and contractors, extending the training across the broader military community.

McDougal, a supply quality assurance specialist with Blount Island Command, enrolled after learning the facility offered the course, several months after arriving at Blount Island.

"I just wanted the experience of getting on a bike and learning how to use it," McDougal said, stepping off one of the training motorcycles. After two days of classroom instruction and range exercises, he said the course changed his perspective on riding.

"It's all about safety, maintaining control and learning how to use the bike," he said. "This is not like a car. This involves more exposure to risk. You cannot be distracted."

For Wojciechowski, those lessons are why he continues teaching long after retiring from a 34-year Navy career. He earned his Motorcycle Safety Foundation rider coach certification in 2006 while stationed in Naples, Italy, and has continued teaching riders around the world ever since. Today, he helps teach the course couple of times per year at Blount Island.

Wojciechowski said helping new riders stay safe is another way to continue serving.

"I see the importance, especially for novice riders," Wojciechowski said. "I give them the tools—pointers on what to look out for. Then they need to apply the tools. The more you ride, the better you get."

Students spent mornings on the riding range and afternoons in the classroom, avoiding the summer heat. Classroom instruction covered traffic laws, hazard recognition, insurance requirements and riding strategies before students applied those lessons through progressively more challenging riding exercises. The facility provided each participant with a 250cc Suzuki TU250X designed for beginner rider training.

The class also included contracted supply material specialist Carletta McKenzie and three brothers whose father is a retired Marine major.

As students progressed through the course, Wojciechowski challenged them with increasingly complex exercises, including emergency braking and stopping while negotiating curves.

"Next exercise we're going to stop in a curve, then stop quickly," Wojciechowski told the class. "Your objective is to stop smoothly."

Marine Corps policy requires service members to complete an approved rider course before operating a motorcycle and to complete either a refresher or advanced course to maintain riding proficiency.

"They're the warfighter—we need to keep them safe," said Wojciechowski. "We've got all that investment into their training. We need to keep them safe."