One of our ninjas sent us a story about Specialist Oscar Bonilla, of the 1st Calvary Division at Fort Hood, Texas. He was driving home at night when he saw another stop his truck on an overpass bridge near Fort Hood. Bonilla thought the soldier was acting strangely, so he stopped and engaged the soldier in conversation;
” That’s when he told me he doesn’t want to live anymore. It’s not worth it, and he just wants to end it all,” said Bonilla.
As he moved closer to put himself between the troubled man and the overpass rail, he noticed a familiar haircut. The man who was trying to end his life was a soldier.
“I immediately told him, ‘I know you’re a soldier. Look at me, I’m in my uniform still so talk to me,’ and I noticed he had a ring on his finger,” said Bonilla.
Not only was the young soldier married, but he was a new father with a four month old baby. Bonilla told the soldier to think about his family, and stood listening to his fellow soldier. Somewhere during the conversation, it clicked. “He looked at me and basically hugged me, just embraced me, and started crying on my shoulder,” he said.
He talked him off the overpass, but rather than parting ways, Bonilla took him to the nearby McDonalds for coffee so they could continue talking until the soldier’s unit leader arrived to pick him up. His unexpected stop to lend a hand had almost lasted an hour.
And that’s how it’s done – one person at a time. Thanks from all of us Oscar. You saved one of our brothers, just by being yourself. He also saved a child from being fatherless and he saved one more Army wife from being a widow. Oscar is one of those rare heroes.
Comments
37 responses to “Specialist Oscar Bonilla saving the world”
God bless you, SPC Bonilla! Last year, I lost a friend and another friend’s son to PTSD-related suicide within a month of each other. This Soldier has no idea of the extent of the impact his selfless act will have for years to come.
God bless him indeed.
I gotta stop reading stories like these. I don’t know what it is, but something about them just tends to kick up a lotta dust.
No, don’t ever stop reading stories like these. One day it might just be your hand and your shoulder and your heart that saves one of your brother’s lives. Always be prepared for something like this, because there are a lot of people walking around out there that are hurting.
SPC Bonilla is a Go at this station.
SPC Bonilla is also a GO in being a damn fine man.
Well done, SPC Bonilla. Damn well done.
Beyond a doubt.
I wish people would turn back to God, read the Bible and especially read the stories of people who have seen the afterlife and brought back to tell about it, a nurse tried to off herself but she was sent back, what she found out that aside from our lives not being ours, they belong to the Lord and we have no right to destroy them, those that do, are destined to relive their lives over and over and over in the after life, they don’t escape anything, they have to keep enduring whatever drove them to that point in the first place….God is a merciful God, he doesn’t want that for you! …turn to him! As for Sgt Bonilla, you may never know what you saved that man from, but God Bless You!
Well done!
NOT ONLY did he talk his fellow Soldier off of the overpass, he got in touch with that troop’s unit and did it right. BRAVO ZULU, SOLDIER!!
Outfuckingstanding!!
It’s nice to see good news at the end of the day. Very well done, Bonilla.
BZ..no man left behind.
Outstanding! Even retired I lost a troop last month. Great job Spc Bonilla.
This is a Soldier!
Ya done good, Spc Bonilla. Blessings to you.
Attention on deck! Hand Salute. Ready…two! Well done Specialist Bonilla. Damn well done.
wow That is what we need troops like that BZ and God Bless….
I HOPE he reenlists, the US Army needs NCO’s like him!!!
Amen. His is the kind of leadership we need.
And that single demonstration of leadership skills should put him on the E-5 promotion list. Be interesting to see what his unit commander had to say about his soldier’s actions.
If SPC Bonilla has a CoC worth even a tenth of their weight in dirt that deed of his should put him on the fast track for E5, that’s just IMHO.
This was not just a test for senior enlisted leadership position in the future, it was a live fire practical exam … one that he completed without error.
BZ …
NOTE: Stories like this make my day and give me hope and promise for our future.
You and me both, Brother.
Well done young soldier.
What a wonderful post, and a hearty thank you to SPC Bonilla for going above and beyond!!
Damn allergies are acting up.
Well done soldier, damn well done.
Hell yeah Specialist Bonilla! That’s what I’m taking about!!! We take better care of ourselves then anyone else…and we’re never ‘off duty’.
SPC…Job well done young man! I’m not surprised at all. I do know that soldiers serving or veterans just seem to pop up at anytime. It comes naturally to them. Is it a part of military training?
BZ!
So damm awesome.
Damn, I love these youngsters in uniform! GR8 job, Trooper. You made an old sojer proud.
Was never a fan of Ft Hood (I like smaller posts) but there was never a shortage of good Soldiers there. Kudos to SPC Bonilla – he’s going to be a hell of an NCO.
This is what it takes to help our troubled Warriors. Government assistance is “too little, too late”, leaving it up to us, the brothers who know, in our hearts, that we cannot let this happen. Way to go, Oscar.
This is such a good story that I dropped a link to it at accordingtohoyt.com: http://accordingtohoyt.com/2016/02/22/moral-majority-2-0-brad-torgersen/#comments.
SPC Bonilla, great job. Besides the folks mentioned, you have probably saved countless others from grief who would have been asking themselves “how should I have known? What should I have done?” for the next forty or fifty years. Pretty fair load of accomplishment there.
Hooah Specialist! Hooah.
Goosebumps. Amen, Oscar. You done good.