Courtesy Photo | (From left to right) Sgt. David Rummel, Staff Sgt. Dewayne Adams, Spc. Ray Nantz and...... read more read more
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By Staff Sgt. Thomas Greene
CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Tikrit, Iraq----“The day (June 3rd) had seemed the hottest day yet since we had been in Iraq,” said Sgt. David Rummel, the MRAP crew gunner from Oak Ridge, Tenn.
The 1st Platoon, L Troop, 3rd Squadron, 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, had just returned from taking supper after traveling from COL Speicher to the Mission Control Team site at Joint Base Balad.
Spc. Josh Petersen the platoon medic, originally from Duffield, Va., but now a resident of Kingsport, Tenn., was making his rounds checking on his platoon members to be sure they were hydrating and handling the heat.
When he arrived at his own vehicle, Peterson heard the distress shout from an unidentified Soldier that a Kellogg Brown and Root, driver had possibly suffered a heart attack and “he needs a medic now!”
Peterson, called Doc, a term commonly and affectionately used in reference to medics by their fellow soldiers, immediately reached for his aid bag and asked his vehicle commander, Staff Sgt. Dewayne Adams of Greenville, Tenn., to bring the litter [stretcher], said Adams.
Peterson, with a copper complexion and in his slow southwest Virginia accent said, “Everything seemed to go on fast-forward at this point”.
He said he grabbed his aid bag, and went running, picking up other first platoon members, Spc. Nathan Roberts of Jacksboro, Tenn., and Spc. Ray Nantz from Dandridge, Tenn., who offered to assist.
Adams said, “I told Rummel to drive our vehicle close to the KBR truck. I thought we might have to transport the casualty plus we had a medical oxygen tank on board”.
“When we arrived on site, Doc was on it,” said Adams.
Peterson said he, Nantz and Roberts went running in the direction of the parked KBR trucks. They turned a corner and Soldiers from JBB were pointing in the direction of the distressed driver. They found the driver slumped in the cab of his truck and immediately began checking his vital signs.
Peterson said he performed a visual observation of the casualty and found a lack of response to verbal request. On his assessment Peterson said, “He found the driver had a rapid pulse and would blink his eyes, he was blue in the face and his breathing showed signs of respiratory failure”.
With the help of Nance, Adams and Roberts, Peterson said they moved the man, estimated by Peterson to weigh 300 pounds, from his truck to the litter just as an Emergency Medical Team arrived from JBB.
Adams said he and Nance began to remove the man’s boots and socks and treat him for shock as Peterson cut the man’s shirt away and placed cold water bottles under his arm pits and in his groin area to cool him down.
“We got him on oxygen in the EMT ambulance,” said Peterson. “That brought his alertness back and he said his name was Michael.”
Meanwhile, Peterson rode to the hospital at JBB with the patient sharing the patients’ vital signs data with the EMT crew and preparing the man for IV fluids.
Peterson said on arriving at the hospital, the staff there were waiting and ready to receive Michael.
Modestly, Peterson said, “I was just doing what I’ve been taught in EMT basic by the U.S. Army. It feels good to help out, but I never caught his last name”.
The 278th ACR are members of the Tenn. Army National Guard and are under the command of the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary).
| Date Taken: | 06.24.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 06.24.2010 08:21 |
| Story ID: | 51882 |
| Location: | CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, IQ |
| Web Views: | 776 |
| Downloads: | 203 |
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