Tech. Sgt. Phillip Dyer saving the world

Dennis sends us a link from af.mil which tells the story of how Technical Sergeant Phillip Dyer earned the Airman’s Medal for rescuing double amputee, Christi, from a raging flood in Missouri while Dyer was on leave from 366th Training Squadron Detachment 3, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

Because of weather conditions, rescue personnel were hours away, so Dyer took it upon himself to rescue the woman;

The husband and another man on the scene tried to rescue Christi, but could not carry her above the water. With the waters rising toward the couple’s roof and no chance to tow the vehicle without possibly losing his own, Dyer made a call.

“I told my brother, ‘they are going to drown her, I am helping,’” said Dyer. “If we waited for rescue personnel, she would have either succumbed to the cold or been washed away. There was no more time to wait. She needed help right then.”

When Dyer reached Christi, he said she was very cold and turning blue. The Airman took her from the two men and used a fireman carry to get her through the close-to-freezing current to a less-deeply flooded area. Then Christi began to panic.

“I carefully put her down and sat in the water with her,” said Dyer. “I explained to her ‘I can only help if you stay calm.’”

At this point, Dyer said much of his military training took over. The self-aid buddy care, combat life saver, operational risk management and his own EOD technician composure allowed him to accomplish the specific mission he had before him.

“My training helped me stay calm in a torrent of rushing water, pouring rain and darkness not knowing when the situation could go from bad to worse,” he said.

He quickly briefed the two men, who’d attempted to rescue Christi earlier, on how to perform a chair carry. At this point, Christi was so weak, she couldn’t hold herself up. One man held her back, while Dyer and the other rescuer performed the carry to remove her from the current and get her to safety.

“I was worried, at least up until I heard him take complete control of the situation,” said John Dyer, Phillip’s brother. “Once he got in the water, there was no misunderstanding who was in charge. Phillip may have been afraid, but the only thing he showed was calmness.”

Dyer’s brother, John, who couldn’t attend the ceremony, also added praise for his brother and all military members.

“If this is even a small cross-section of the type of men and women serving our country, we should all be proud,” he said.

Category: Air Force