Category: Real Soldiers

AW1Ed sends a link to the story of US Army Captain Christopher Anderson, the company commander of the Dearborn Army Recruiting Company, who spotted an SUV that hit a parked car. The driver was unresponsive when Anderson stopped to investigate and the captain smelled smoke;

Anderson grabbed the driver from behind, and a bystander grabbed the driver’s feet to help get the driver away from the car.

“I knew I had to do CPR, but I also needed a tempo for the compressions,” Anderson said.

Anderson remembered what his instructor had told him from his Army CLS course. He was told the tempo of the song ‘Staying Alive’ is pretty close to how fast CPR compressions are supposed to be administered.

“So I asked this kid who was standing close by to find the song ‘Staying Alive’ on his cell phone,” Anderson said. “Once the song started, I focused on matching my compressions to the beat.”

The driver groaned and gasped for air as Anderson began CPR. While Anderson was doing compressions, the driver’s gasping became more frequent, which meant the driver was breathing more air.

“I felt as if he was still fighting to stay alive,” Anderson said. “He just couldn’t breathe, but he was trying.”

An older gentleman, who also knew CPR, assisted Anderson.

Rescue workers arrived on the scene and used a defibrillator on the victim. They told Anderson that the casualty had a pulse by the time they sent off to the hospital.

From the Army Times;

“I don’t want to be called a hero,” Anderson said about his actions on June 12, according to TRADOC. “I stopped to help because it was the right thing to do — not just as a soldier, but as a good human being.”

According to Stars & Stripes three soldiers assigned to the U.S. military hospital at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, South Korea witnessed a Korean woman when she was struck by a small truck and rolled underneath the vehicle.

Col. Editha Ruiz, deputy commander for nursing, and 1st Lt. Alexander Seawright, a nurse, performed first aid while Spc. Won Seok Kim, the command driver, translated and helped keep others on the scene calm until an ambulance arrived.

“We saw a lady get out of her car, trip and hit an incoming small truck, then she kind of rolled underneath,” Ruiz said Tuesday in a telephone interview. “I said, ‘oh my God, oh my God, we’ve got to help her.’”

Ruiz, 53, of Waipahu, Hawaii, said they found the woman face down and bleeding.

“My biggest fear was that she had a neck injury, so I told 1st Lt. Seawright to make sure her head was steady,” Ruiz said, adding her team didn’t have equipment with them so they mainly worked to stabilize the woman until the ambulance arrived.

“It took about 20 minutes for the ambulance to get there, because, of course, traffic was backed up,” she said.

There is no word on the condition of the 65-year-old victim.

Marine Sergeant Tyler Harman was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal when he saved the life of 2 year-old Rylan Strother who was choking on a grape, according to WSBTV;

Harman, an instructor with the base’s Marine Aviation Training Support Group 23, lives next door to [Rylan’s mother, Amber] Strother and answered the door Feb. 1 when she made a panicked plea for help.

Harman told his wife to call 911 and then turned the toddler over so that he could hit his back and try to dislodge the grape that the boy had grabbed out of the refrigerator on his own.

“He was scared and he was clenching his teeth,” Harman said. “He had started to get a little blue and he was starting to choke up blood.”

Harman continued his efforts to dislodge the grape and eventually was able to get his fingers inside the child’s throat and remove the grape. When paramedics arrived, Rylan was breathing on his own. A quick trip to the emergency room confirmed the child was fine.

Harman didn’t tell his fellow Marines about the life-or-death incident, but Rylan’s grandfather reached out to leaders of his squadron and told them what happened.

[…]

Harman said he learned CPR and other life-saving skills during routine training.

He told his fellow Marines that the incident shows how important even the most mundane training can be.

“I hope for you Marines that you understand that there is a reason for all the training you get while you are here, even something as simple as a three-hour CPR class,” he said.

Thanks to AW1Ed for the tip.

The White House announces that First Lieutenant Garlin “Murl” Conner will be awarded posthumously the Medal of Honor today;

Then-First Lieutenant Garlin M. Conner will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously for his actions on 24 January 1945, while serving as an intelligence officer with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division. Then-First Lieutenant Conner voluntarily left his position of relative safety to place himself in a better position to direct artillery fire onto the assaulting enemy infantry and armor. He remained in an exposed position which was 30 yards ahead of the defending force for a period of three hours. Despite the enemy coming within five yards of his position and friendly artillery shells exploding around him, he continued to direct the fire of friendly artillery, which ultimately repelled the assaulting enemy elements.

Defense.gov reports that LT Connor’s widow will accept the award;

Pauline, 89, of Albany, Kentucky, will accept the honor on behalf of her husband, who died 20 years ago at age 79. He was drafted March 1, 1941, and assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division’s 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment.

First Lt. Garlin Conner spent 28 months on the front lines in eight campaigns in the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater, participated in four amphibious assault landings, was wounded seven times and earned a battlefield commission. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, four Silver Stars and the French Croix de Guerre for his actions in Italy and France. He also received a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts.

The Medal of Honor for LT Connor upgrades his Distinguished Service Cross. The citation for his DSC reads;

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to First Lieutenant (Infantry) Garlin Murl Conner, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with Company K, 3d Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division, in action against enemy forces on 24 January 1945, in the vicinity of Houssen, France. On that date, at 0800 hours, First Lieutenant Conner ran 400 yards through the impact area of an intense concentration of enemy artillery fire to direct friendly artillery on a force of six Mark VI tanks and tank destroyers, followed by 600 fanatical German infantrymen, which was assaulting in full fury the spearhead position held by his battalion. Along the way, he unreeled a spool of telephone wire, disregarding shells which exploded 25 yards from him and set up an observation post which he manned for more than three hours during the intense fighting. He was individually credited with stopping more than 150 Germans, destroying all the tanks and completely disintegrating the powerful enemy assault force and preventing heavy loss of life in his own outfit. First Lieutenant Conner’s intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, the 3d Infantry Division, and the United States Army.

Southcom.mil reports that Sergeant First Class Levon Fernandez, a flight paramedic with Joint Task Force-Bravo’s Charlie Company, 1st Battalion 228th Aviation Regiment, was awarded the Soldiers Medal for his actions on August 16, 2017 in Honduras when a Honduran Air Force L410 training flight crashed into powerlines and a headquarters building;

After negotiating the electrical wires, debris and other hazardous conditions, he reached the severely wounded Honduran aviators, checked for signs of life and began directing others in vicinity of the crash site.

“I met up with a few of my medics over there. Our first goal was to try to extract the pilots; we noticed 3 guys in there. There was fuel spurting out all over us as we were trying to extract them,” said Fernandez.

Fernandez retrieved the flight engineer from the aircraft and got him to a safe distance where another flight paramedic was able to provide the necessary medical care. He then turned his attention back to the other aviators who were severely entangled in the wreckage. Unable to extract the pilot within conventional means, Fernandez climbed into the cockpit.

“They were all pretty trapped in so we were trying to take the aircraft apart around them. We were able to extract two of the pilots right away, the third one unfortunately was not able to get extracted and passed away in the aircraft. It was not until hours later that the fire department was finally able to get him out,” said Fernandez.

Thanks to AW1Ed for the tip.

Dan sends us a link from the Seattle Times which tells the story of Clinton Foriska which follows him from an infantryman in Iraq to Medical student at Pacific Northwest University.

He’s set to graduate from the University of Washington Bothell June 10 with a near-perfect GPA. Earlier this month, he was awarded UW Bothell’s Chancellor’s Medal, given to inspirational students who overcome significant obstacles.

And this fall, he’ll start his first year of medical school at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences, a private four-year school for osteopathic medicine in Yakima. He hopes to work with veterans living in rural areas when he graduates.

At UW Bothell, Foriska is known for his sense of humor and get-the-work-done approach to college. “Ultimately, he’s a problem-solver,” said Heather Galindo, an instructor of biological sciences at UW Bothell.

He had stuck to his plan, making top grades through his first two quarters at UW Bothell, when life threw him a new curve: a diagnosis of testicular cancer. Foriska had to withdraw for the fall quarter of 2017 while he underwent surgery and treatment.

I’ve still got my plan, he said to himself. I could dwell on having cancer, but time doesn’t stop for anyone.

Foriska returned to classes in winter 2017 and applied for admission to Pacific Northwest University. He was in class one day when his phone rang; it was the director of admissions at Pacific Northwest. In his excitement, he ran out of the class to take the call. When he came back in, he announced to his classmates that he’d just gotten into medical school. Everyone in class was thrilled.

He calls it “one of the most exciting phone calls that I have ever received.”

Foriska and his wife, Jamie, whom he met at a Green Lake Starbucks, will move to Yakima this fall with their son, Matthias. His brother Kyle is going to move with them to help the family settle in.

But before that happens, on June 10, he’ll graduate summa cum laude — with the highest distinction — from the UW Bothell.

“I feel someone’s watching over me,” he said. “I’m definitely blessed.”