Photo By Lance Cpl. Isaiah Hill | U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Austin Reichel, a radio non-commissioned officer with...... read more read more
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Hiking has become an increasingly popular pastime for millions of people all over the world. Every year the number of hikers gets larger. When the number of participants goes up however, so do the number of incidents such as injuries, deaths, and disappearances.
On July 5, 2021, U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Austin Reichel, a radio non-commissioned officer in charge with Headquarters Battalion, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, was hiking the Waimano Falls Trail alone, with no familiar faces on the trail.
“It was a pretty good day to hike,” remembered Reichel. “It was sunny and hot, but still nice.”
Steep and muddy, the 2.9-mile trail provides a good challenge for hikers of all ages and abilities, taking an average of an hour and forty minutes to complete.
“I had just finished the hike to the falls,” said Reichel. “I was preparing to turn around and head back.”
A mile and a half left to hike, Reichel stood up and started to walk before he was stopped in his tracks.
“There was a bit of commotion,” recalled Reichel. “A woman had fallen down, and she wasn’t getting up.”
Standing next to the woman was Jessica Meyer, an unacquainted hiker from out of state.
“She fell on the boulders right next to me,” recalled Meyer. “She fell with a loud thump – loud enough for everyone in the area to hear, including Reichel.”
At that moment, Reichel had a decision to make: let someone else help, or do what he could to help her.
“Sure, there were other people around, but this is what Marines are trained to do,” explained Reichel. “There really wasn’t any hesitation. My decision was instant.”
Rushing to the woman’s side, Reichel began to assess her injuries, talking to her the entire time. The woman who had fallen was a tourist, hiking that day with her twin sons.
“The first thing we did was try to call 9-1-1,” recalled Reichel. “There wasn’t any cell reception though, so a guy ran down the trail until he had enough service to call.”
Observing the location, Reichel could tell that the paramedics would have a hard time getting to the injured woman, let alone getting her out.
“She had hit her face when she fell, and her face was all scratched,” said Reichel. “That by itself was scary, but she had also broken her ankle, which was another issue we had to figure out.”
Standing her up, Reichel supported her and began walking. After progressing a short distance, he could see that she was in a lot of pain from her ankle.
“I always carry a knife with me, so when I saw that she was in pain, I took my knife and cut some branches to make a splint,” described Reichel. “I used my shirt to secure the branches, and we continued from there.”
Waimano Falls was not an easy trail. The vegetation was dense in some areas, and the trail itself was rocky and had many terrain variations.
“There was no good way to carry her,” remembered Reichel. “We used just about every carry you could imagine… fireman carry, bridal carry, literally every carry in the book,” he said.
The man that ran to call 9-1-1 finally got enough signal to call, and a fire rescue team was on its way to airlift the woman out.
“We probably hiked a mile before the helicopter arrived,” said Reichel. “From there, it was just getting her into the helicopter.”
After helping the paramedic secure her to the lift, Reichel’s job was complete. Almost.
“She and I were talking the entire ‘hike’ to the airlift point,” recalled Reichel. “We decided that I would drive her vehicle to take her sons to the hospital to be with her.”
After the injured woman was airlifted, Reichel hiked the remaining half mile with her two sons, in order to reunite them at a local hospital.
Through a conversation about weekend activities, word got back to Reichel’s leadership on Marine Corps Base Hawaii about his actions that day, and his superiors began writing him up for a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.
“I don’t need the award,” said Reichel. “What I did just goes right back to the basics of the Marine Corps. It is what we are trained for.”
Witnesses to the incident, including Meyer, believe that he deserves the award.
“I am so elated that he is being awarded and recognized for his selfless service,” said Meyer. “There is no doubt that the heroic acts of Reichel helped save this woman. If he had not been leisurely hiking that day, we would not have been able to get her out of there.”
Reichel made a decision to help when he could have easily stood by and watched, exemplifying the characteristics of a United States Marine.
“Every Marine should have been able to do what I did,” said Reichel. “We are all taught not only how to respond, but also how to prevent situations like these.”
Reichel is expected to be awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal upon return from his temporary duty assignment.
| Date Taken: | 07.28.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 07.29.2022 16:05 |
| Story ID: | 426060 |
| Location: | HI, US |
| Web Views: | 210 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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