Always Ready, Always There

TUPELO, MS, UNITED STATES

08.03.2022

Story by Officer Candidate Jarvis Mace 

102d Public Affairs Detachment

JACKSON, Miss. – “Always ready, Always there”. This is the motto for the National Guard. On May 3, 2022, a Soldier encompassed this motto through and through by being there.
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Lisa Nunley, an automated logistics specialist with Headquarters Company, 184th Sustainment Command, was driving to a routine doctor's appointment when she noticed a diesel rock truck had struck a car crossing a highway.
"I pulled over and asked the two individuals on the side of the road if anyone was injured," said Nunley. "I had assumed they were the ones involved."
After one of the civilians pointed, Nunley noticed someone lying face down in the ditch, and she ran to perform aid. The car crash victim was unconscious and bleeding heavily from the head.
When the victim regained consciousness, Nunley treated her for shock as she applied pressure to her head injuries.
Another civilian warned Nunley that a child was in the vehicle as she was still applying for aid.
In another act of heroism, Nunley went out to find the child as she reassured Kara Burns, the victim, that she would be fine.
She acted quickly to locate the child beneath the wrecked vehicle.
"The doors were locked, so I ran over to the passenger side and luckily was able to unlock the door through the broken window," Nunley said. "I went to the driver's side of the vehicle and opened the back door to find the child partially under the driver's seat on the floorboard."
Nunley then carried Avery, Kara's five-year-old daughter affectionately nicknamed “Avie”, to safety as the paramedics arrived.

"I didn't know if Kara was going to make it, and I didn't want Avie's last image of her mom being that," she said. "I held Avie until the paramedics arrived and carried her to the ambulance."
Miraculously, both Kara and Avery recovered from their injuries, and Kara even invited Nunley to her birthday lunch.
Since then, they talk daily, and families spend time with each other.
Nunley credits the National Guard for preparing her to protect her community.
"The military, in general, has taught me a lot of things that I use on a day-to-day basis as far as staying calm and being able to assess the situation," Nunley said. "As an [noncommissioned officer], you are over many people, and they're your responsibility."
The Mississippi National Guard continues to train citizen-soldiers with skills that serve the people of Mississippi.
U.S. Army National Guard story by Cdt. Jarvis Mace

• Date Taken: 08.03.2022
• Date Posted: 08.11.2022 14:48
• Story ID: 426462
• Location: TUPELO, MS, US