HOUSTON — The Texas National Guard (TNG) saved the life of a man on the Texas-Mexico border who was accidentally injured while working along the river. The victim had severely cut his arm while working to clear brush along the river to aid in detection of illegal border crossings.
The guardsmen were manning an observation post as part of Governor Rick Perry’s Operation Strong Safety when they observed a truck moving in their direction at high speed. The soldiers’ first reaction was this was someone trying to get past them and enter the U.S. illegally. According to a press release obtained by Breitbart Texas, the vehicle stopped and the driver jumped out of the vehicle yelling, “He’s cut! He’s cut!”
“I thought someone was testing us,” said one of the soldiers, “but then the driver opened the passenger door and we saw the blood. We knew it was real.”
The two soldiers quickly applied their first-aid training and stopped the bleeding in the man’s arm which had been severely injured while clearing brush along the river. Seeing the victim was showing signs of shock, the second soldier joined in to provide assistance. In the meantime, a radio call had been made to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) for an ambulance to be dispatched. A medic unit from the TNG quickly arrived and provided additional treatment to stabilize the patient.
None of the original three soldiers who provided assistance to the injured man were medics. They each used their specialized training as Combat Life Savers to provide immediate assistance that saved the man’s life. The soldiers wish for their names to be kept confidential for their own personal security and that of their families according to the press release. One of the soldiers was an infantryman, one was a heavy vehicle repairman and the third was a heavy vehicle operator.
The shift leader is a combat veteran having been deployed to Afghanistan in 2012. He expressed surprise at having the opportunity to use his combat training on U.S. soil in peacetime. I’m just glad we were there,” he said. “If not, he probably would have bled out due to the amount of blood he had lost.” The shift supervisor said that he was proud of these soldiers “because they didn’t panic.”
“They took care of the situation without senior leadership being there,” he said. “It feels good to know that I have soldiers like this on point.”
The injured man is doing well and is expected to fully recover from his injuries.
Bob Price is a staff writer and a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.
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