Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jesse Rhymes saving the world
Chief Tango sends us a link to the story of Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jesse Rhymes who was driving on a country road when the car in front of him did a few barrel rolls and came to rest in a ditch. The engine burst into flames as the Chief was calling 9-1-1;
The front of the vehicle was fast filling with smoke, Rhymes recalled. The victim’s legs were trapped, and there was no way to extricate him from the driver’s side of the vehicle. So Rhymes crawled through the passenger side window of the upside-down car.
“When the flames started coming through the windshield, I was hoping it wasn’t going to blow,” Rhymes said.
Rhymes managed to get the victim and himself out of the car and to safety. He administered first aid until emergency responders arrived. By then, the entire car was engulfed in flames, which firefighters were able to extinguish.
The Army awarded Rhymes the Soldiers’ Medal at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington;
“I just did what any Soldier would do,” he said. “I just knew if I didn’t go in, (the victim) wasn’t going to make it out.’
When he arrived home, he was covered in his own blood, from glass he’d crawled through in the vehicle. Although his wife, Sally, said she was shocked to see her husband in that condition, she wasn’t surprised he’d perform such an heroic act.
“That’s just the kind of person he is,” she said. “I thought he was a little crazy crawling into a burning vehicle, but he’s a wonderful person, a wonderful husband and a wonderful father. I’m proud, very proud of him.”
Category: Real Soldiers
Bravo Zulu, CWO!
Flames = Soldiers Medal
Way to go Chief
BZ!
One of man’s greatest innate fears is death by burning. To overcome that to perform such a heroic feat takes some real clankers.
Bravo Zulu, Chief!
Fire is the great equalizer. This man is heroic beyond words.
Dang, dude!
Well done!!
Well done, CWO3 Rhymes. Damn well done.
If we ever meet, I owe you a libation – and I hope you’ll allow me to call you “Chief”.
Way to go Chief!
God Bless him!
BZ CWO3 Rhymes!
There seems to be a repeat theme when it comes to heroism in combat. The individuals don’t act out of love of country/flag, etc. More often than not when they speak about it (if they speak about it) it comes down to the fact they did it for their buddies, the guy on their left or the guy on their right maybe even a GI they don’t know. But they are acting because of the brotherhood/sisterhood of the military.
That what makes incidents like this and yesterdays post even more impressive to me. They acted selflessly for complete strangers that aren’t part of the family of arms.
Strong work! I couldn’t help but chuckle at his mention of hoping the car wasn’t going to blow up, though. Cars don’t explode. Gas tanks are really disappointing when they do BLEVE.
I’ve been on multiple T/Cs in which the occupant was freaking out, saying the car was about to blow up. I said, “Why? Do you have explosives in the car?” They said no. I replied, “Then the car ain’t gonna explode. Relax.”
That being said, a fire in the engine compartment can spread very, very rapidly to engulf the passenger compartment. Burning alive is a downright terrifying proposition. CWO3 Rhymes manned up and did what needed to be done in the face of that very-real and very-imminent hazard. My hat’s off to him. Dude’s a hero, plain and simple.
Agreed, never saw a vehicle explode.
But, when one of the tires burst loudly right next to you though, you will damn near soil your panties.
BZ Chief.
Fire plus gas engine equals “shits gonna blow”. Been there done that and the EMS called me out on moving the driver. Fuck them. They weren’t there until 7ish minutes later. The fire had diminished then buy wasn’t so when I moved the driver.
Not as much as you might think. Remember, I deal with combustion for a living. You just don’t have enough gasoline in any vehicle that’s not a gas tanker to make the Hollywood kaboom everyone expects. Sure, you’ll get a BLEVE from the gas tank once it gets hot enough, but it will be a small “pop,” a little bit of extra flames, and that’s pretty much it. Also, most of the time it happens after the passenger compartment is fully involved. Trust me, I’ve seen it plenty of times.
However, that engine compartment fire can and will spread VERY quickly. As in quickly enough to fatally burn a would-be rescuer crawling inside the vehicle to help the occupants. I think we can all agree that that’s a horrible way to go. As I said, CWO3 Rhymes is a straight-up hero. He was just facing a different–and if you ask me, scarier–hazard than what you might think.
Well done CWO3 Rhymes. Damned well done Sir.
“During the ordeal, Rhymes managed to call his wife and let her know he’d be late for dinner.”
Probably the Chief’s call to his wife:
“Hey Honey. I might be a few minutes late for dinner, just had a slight road hazard to deal with. Love ya.”
Two thumbs up, CWO Rhymes!!
Clank, clank, Chief.
Badassery done right.
HOOAH !!!!
Way to go Chief.
Nicely done!
Serious stones, sir. BZ.
Well done, Chief!
Well Done