Photo By Staff Sgt. Josiah Pugh | Army Sgt. Garrett Dipuma and Staff Sgt. Josiah Pugh, both public affairs specialists...... read more read more
GREENLAND, Barbados — It was roughly 3:30 a.m. Wednesday morning of June 7 when three U.S. military reservists encountered a situation that was certainly something they hadn’t woken up thinking about. The two Louisiana Army National Guardsmen were focused on capturing some good photographs of military training in the darkness, and the Navy reservist was focused on finding the training location since he was the driver.
The event was a training exercise that involved local Barbadian police and special operations personnel from Mexico. Their training task was to raid a “safe house” at night. Army Sgt. Garrett Dipuma and Staff Sgt. Josiah Pugh, both public affairs specialists with the 241st Mobile Public Affairs Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana, were the photo documentarians.
Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Patrick Billups, an operations specialist with U.S. Southern Command in Doral, Florida, was charged with transporting them to the training and back to their headquarters safely. The three reservists, plus the police and special operations troops, were all working for Tradewinds 2017, a joint and multi-national training exercise involving military and civilian interagency personnel from 20 countries.
After almost 30 minutes of driving and only a couple miles from their destination, they pulled up to a crowd of local citizens and an automobile that was flipped on its side in a ditch along the side of the road.
Dipuma and Pugh exited their car and joined the locals in assessing the situation. At first, they didn’t even think anyone was in the car until the locals informed them otherwise. Their shouts of “We can’t get him out. We can’t get him out” told them otherwise.
Quickly, the two reservists assessed the environment and the driver’s injuries using emergency medical criteria they knew from their service training. The driver was conscious, oriented to time and place, and his movements within the car suggested strongly that he was not seriously injured.
The issue, indeed, was getting him out of the car, but there was a problem … the driver had plowed into a power pole causing the pole to break and its electrical lines to droop close to the car.
“We took a risk. We didn't know if the power lines were hot or not, but we knew we had to help,” said Billups. They determined that the power lines were far enough overhead to give them working room.
“We tried to get him out of the window, and that didn't work,” said Billups. “So Dipuma and I worked together and managed to open the door.” Afterward, Dipuma expressed surprise at how easy it was to open the door considering that it’s surface was pointed upward facing the sky.
Dipuma, Billups and several of the locals were able to help the man climb up and out of the open doorway. Afterwards, they observed that the man was mainly shaken up with only minor injuries and bruising.
Pugh, who had approached the scene in the midst of this, witnessed the crew extracting the local man and helping to carry him to safety.
“It looked extremely difficult,” said Pugh. “Because the car was on its side, everyone had to lift the man very high to get him out of the window and it took the entire group to make it work. Dipuma and the others then carried the man to the side of the road and laid him carefully down on the grass beside the road.”
The locals assured Billups, Dipuma and Pugh that they were fully able and willing to care for the driver until the police showed up, so the three servicemen returned to their car and their military mission.
“I received a text message from Dipuma at 3:47 a.m. that morning which read: ‘Just pulled a guy out of a flipped car,’” said Louisiana Army National Guardsman, 1st Sgt. Paul Meeker, who is Dipuma’s and Pugh’s supervisor for this overseas training exercise. “Dipuma and Pugh are cool cucumbers, and having served under a Navy tenant command for a year with Joint Task Force – Guantanamo [in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba] some years back, I knew the Navy petty officer had to be first class too.”
The three first-responders were a bit uncomfortable with the attention their actions received from Tradewinds 2017 leadership.
Dipuma seemed to sum up the experience well, and in the best tradition of all men and women who serve their countries faithfully while in uniform, when he explained his reasons for rendering aid at the scene of the accident.
“We are here for Tradewinds, and the whole point of the exercise is to foster relationships with our partner nations and communities,” said Dipuma. “Being able to do that outside of the exercise was a rewarding experience. We were in the right place at the right time, and I’m very thankful we were able to help.”
Tradewinds 2017 is a joint, combined exercise conducted by 20 partner nations to enhance the collective abilities of defense forces and constabularies to counter transnational organized crime, and to conduct humanitarian and disaster relief operations.
| Date Taken: | 06.10.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 06.10.2017 12:54 |
| Story ID: | 237205 |
| Location: | ST. MICHAEL PARISH, BB |
| Hometown: | COLLEGE STATION, TX, US |
| Hometown: | DORAL, FL, US |
| Hometown: | NEW ORLEANS, LA, US |
| Web Views: | 520 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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