Photo By Brian Dietrick | SEVEN HILLS, Ohio (Feb. 24, 2021) - This is the SUV that Senior Chief Navy Counselor...... read more read more
SEVEN HILLS, Ohio (March 23, 2021) – It was just another typical start to a Wednesday morning for Senior Chief Navy Counselor Terry Horne. He arrived at his office, discussed the daily routine with his Sailors and officer in charge and then he planned to visit a few of his recruiting stations throughout the day. He had no idea that he would play a major part in someone’s life later that day.
Horne, the director of operations and personnel for Talent Acquisition Onboarding Center Cleveland, left the office and headed to the recruiting station in Barberton, Ohio. Halfway into the drive, he noticed that the cars in front of him were braking into a stop and once he stopped, he suddenly saw why. A small SUV had lost control, went off the road, flipped upside down and dug itself into the snowy ground by the interstate off-ramp. Horne thought the driver inside could not have survived a crash like that.
“It was completely smashed in,” said Horne. “I’ve seen many accidents before and thought to myself, there is no way this person is alive.”
Once he made sure it was safe for him to act, he jumped out of his car, ran down the embankment and checked for survivors.
“Both doors were jammed shut but I could see a young female inside moving around, meaning she was still alive,” said Horne. “There was blood all over the place so I wasn’t sure what state she was in or how badly she was hurt.”
Other worried pedestrians rushed over to see what they could do to help and dialed 911. Horne saw a small opening in the rear window of the SUV, apart 12 inches wide, and climbed inside to help the trapped motorist.
“There was blood everywhere and the driver’s hair was pinned between the ground and the roll bars of the SUV, making it impossible for her to moving from being upside down in the driver’s seat,” said Horne.
The people standing outside of the wreckage tried to lift up the vehicle as to allow Horne to unpin the girl’s hair from between the vehicle and the ground. Those attempts were unsuccessful. Horne knew he needed to act so he told the girl he was going to pull the hair out and she agreed. He propped his feet on the roll bar for leverage and pulled with all of his might in that cramped space and eventually freed the driver.
“I then released her seatbelt and helped her make it to the small opening for escape. She was able to move on her own so that was a huge sigh of relief for me right there.” Said Horne. “I stayed inside and tried to collect all of her personal belongings that I could find.”
Local law enforcement and medical responders had arrived just as the motorist was leaving the vehicle. They immediately placed her on a stretcher and into an ambulance. Once Horne got out of the wreckage, he wanted to make sure the girl was okay.
“She was in complete shock. I asked if she was okay and she said she was and thanked me for helping her out. I stuck around a few more moments to answer some of the medical responder’s questions and then got back on the road to continue my station visits.”
Not even a major traffic accident and crawling around while covered in mud, blood and soaking wet from the snow could keep Senior Chief Horne from completing the day’s mission and visiting with his Sailors.
“It’s just what I was supposed to do,” said Horne. “It’s my job. I’m in the military; I’m a good person, so I just felt obligated to help regardless of what it is. I feel like I would be disrespecting the Navy and the military if I stood around and didn’t do anything.”
Horne is from Aurora, Ohio and joined the Navy in April 1999. After tours in California and Hawaii as an aircraft mechanic, he began recruiting in 2006 and absolutely loves it.
“I believe the Navy acts like an express lane to get people where they want to be in life,” said Horne. “The Navy’s old slogan used to be “Accelerate Your Life” and I truly think it does just that… and I love that about the Navy. Watching the transformation from a civilian into a Sailor is the most amazing thing in the world to see.”
Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, NTAG Ohio River Valley’s mission is to man the Navy fleet with the highest quality Sailors and maintain the Navy’s unchallenged worldwide maritime superiority and ability to win wars, deter aggression and maintain freedom of the seas. NTAG Ohio River Valley operates 56 Talent Acquisition Stations and four Navy Officer Recruiting stations throughout Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia.
For more news from NTAG Ohio River Valley, visit us on the web, http://www.cnrc.navy.mil/pages-nrd/ohio/default.html; and on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/NTAGOhioRiverValley.
| Date Taken: | 03.23.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 03.23.2021 14:05 |
| Story ID: | 392087 |
| Location: | SEVEN HILLS, OH, US |
| Hometown: | AURORA, OH, US |
| Web Views: | 1,018 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Ohio Sailor’s Quick Thinking Prevents Tragic Outcome, by Brian Dietrick, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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