Col. Editha Ruiz, 1st Lt. Alexander Seawright and Spc. Won Seok Kim saving the world
According to Stars & Stripes three soldiers assigned to the U.S. military hospital at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, South Korea witnessed a Korean woman when she was struck by a small truck and rolled underneath the vehicle.
Col. Editha Ruiz, deputy commander for nursing, and 1st Lt. Alexander Seawright, a nurse, performed first aid while Spc. Won Seok Kim, the command driver, translated and helped keep others on the scene calm until an ambulance arrived.
“We saw a lady get out of her car, trip and hit an incoming small truck, then she kind of rolled underneath,” Ruiz said Tuesday in a telephone interview. “I said, ‘oh my God, oh my God, we’ve got to help her.’”
Ruiz, 53, of Waipahu, Hawaii, said they found the woman face down and bleeding.
“My biggest fear was that she had a neck injury, so I told 1st Lt. Seawright to make sure her head was steady,” Ruiz said, adding her team didn’t have equipment with them so they mainly worked to stabilize the woman until the ambulance arrived.
“It took about 20 minutes for the ambulance to get there, because, of course, traffic was backed up,” she said.
There is no word on the condition of the 65-year-old victim.
Category: Real Soldiers
Great job!
If your going to be involved on a accident, it’s a good idea to have three health-care providers on the scene. Bravo Zulu!
As inspirational as this story is…here is the award breakdown I predict:
COL Ruiz: put in for Silver Star, awarded Bronze Star
1LT Seawright: put in for Bronze Star, awarded ARCOM
SPC Kim: put in for AAM, awarded handwritten Certificate of Appreciation by company 1SG
Sorry, Carlton, you’re overly optimistic. SPC Kim will receive a Certificate of Appreciation written by a 2ndLT, with no other certificate available for use as a go-by, a reference. A 1st SG could probably whip out a pretty decent document (of course, in crayon as you suggest), but a 2ndLT would not have a clue. Probably use terminology such as ‘like’, ‘dude’, ‘awesome’, ‘decent’ and ‘bodacious’. Not only will the write up suck, the format will bear no resemblance to protocol. Oh, well, bless his little heart.
One of these days I’ll tell you of a real no-shitter that happened to me. It took place 30+ years ago and it still pisses me off.
Specialist Kim will get nothing because the PAC only has three blank AAM certificates left and they can’t spare any.
Damn fine job, troopers.