Bruce Zimmerman; airman saving the world
Eggs sends us a link to the story at af.mil which tells the tale of Senior Master Sergeant Bruce Zimmerman of the 911th Security Forces Squadron who was on his way to work recently when he witnessed an accident and saw a passenger car wedged under a large truck;
“As I approached the car, I could see the driver of the tractor-trailer talking to a man inside the car,” said Zimmerman. “The driver was stuck; part of his dash and steering wheel had caved in on his legs. The driver was alert and conscious.”
Zimmerman and the driver of the tractor-trailer tore away debris to pull the trapped man out of the car. The driver of the car, who identified himself as “John,” had a small gash on his leg from the collision.
The car was still running and there was a smell of gasoline in the air but neither of the men were unable to reach the ignition switch. Less than two minutes later, the car was fully engulfed in flames, stopping traffic on I-79 for hours.
Zimmerman continued to apply first aid to “John” while they waited for emergency services to arrive on the scene.
“I don’t consider myself a hero, maybe a good-Samaritan. Yea, I guess I am ok with that…It was just the right thing to do.”
Category: Air Force, Real Soldiers
Way to do it!
Well done Senior!
Great work, SMSgt Zimmerman.
Hey.. when did the AF start wearing those goofy little patches above their USAF tape?
Is it their answer to Army airborne/air assault wings, or what?? It’s got to be some sort of effort to emulate the aforementioned Army patches.
Big Steve, you need to Google up badges for the Air Force. In the past 10-15 years they(at least to me anyway) have kinda went badge crazy and now have a badge for just about every MOS/specialty in the inventory.
OK.. now I see. Looks like they have these things for each different general category of job specialty… i.e. civil engineers, intelligence, administrative, maintenance (as in aircraft), etc.
I still think it is so they can have something that looks roughly like our special qualification badges/patches in the Army. I don’t see the point of a badge like this that EVERYONE will wear. Nothing special about that.
But what do I know?
They’re not meant to be “special”, they are just occupational badges meant to help with identification. They are also not new, they’ve been in use for 50 years.
Not everyone in the Air Force is a pilot or aircraft crew.
If you are claiming that ALL AF enlisted personnel have had these badges for the past 50 years, you are quite incorrect.
SOME did… certain aircrew members. Security policemen got one later.
The phenomenon of every mechanic, admin clerk, accountant, supply specialist, etc., etc., having these badges is a newer one.
FYI… I was in the AF before the army. 🙂
Those patches are the device that signifies the Airman’s AFSC (MOS), and their skill level (Apprentice, Journeyman, etc.). Their history is rooted more in Aircrew devices, and they’ve been around for many decades.
Oh… skill level too. Interesting. OK, thanks.
The majority of the enlisted specialty (AFSC) badges were introduced during the 1980s.
When I was in we had a police shield patch ( or medal badge) sewn on the pocket, we looked like police officers. But we had nothing to do with law enforcement. This distinguishes LE and the security forces. And skill levels. Back when I was in some of the instructors were former or Army for the security schools. Don’t know which. Most had been to vietnam, so the training was good for those continuing there educations in SE Asia.
Always ways good to see AF guys doing it right. This SMSgt. has the right stuff.
Just to clarify, these occupational badges aren’t restricted to enlisted only–I wore one as an officer in the medical field. And although they all look alike when converted to cloth (tape) form, they’re different, if you look closely at the actual metal devices. Personally, I think they should be left off BDUs (or whatever they’re called now–I’ve lost touch with that term), because what’s the point on a utility uniform?
And on the subject of cluttered uniforms, the Army has no room to talk. Something I always liked about the AF uniform was its simplicity: name plate, ribbons, occupational device and that’s it, unless you had a special duty assignment (Joint Chiefs, etc.) I shot Expert; it’s a ribbon, not a metal device. Knew many blue-suiters who deployed to forward areas and saw combat; no combat devices. Knew several troops who had earned jump wings, but they elected not to wear them, although they were authorized.
Not picking a fight here–just chiming in. It struck a nerve when I read “goofy little patches” and the suggestion that the AF came up with occupational patches so they could have something to compete with the Army’s special qualification badges.
And GOOD JOB to SMSgt Zimmerman!
A enlisted non staff nco would have been NJP’d for missing formation.
Ya, I hit post before I was finished. Opps.