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It was scheduled to be a typical trip back from Camp Atterbury Joint Military Training Center, Indiana, to the unit’s headquarters in Lebanon, Ohio for the Ohio Army National Guard’s Troop B, 2nd Squadron, 107th Cavalry Regiment, after a successful weapons training mission. Staff Sgt. Scot Compton, a section sergeant with 1st Platoon, was riding in the front vehicle when they came across a vehicle overturned in a ditch on Interstate 74.
“I felt my driver slowing down and I look up and we pretty much just rolled right up after it just happened,” recounts Compton, as his team pulled up to the accident scene. “I looked at my driver and it pretty much just kicked into what we do. It’s kind of like a light switch (went on).”
While Compton’s traditional military job is a cavalry scout, as a civilian he works as a flight medic, an experienced paramedic who is no stranger to traumatic traffic accidents.
While there were other individuals who had stopped and called for emergency responders, it was the Soldiers of Troop B who sprang into action. As Compton was assessing the lone occupant of the wrecked car, he was quickly joined by Sgt. John Volz, the assistant section leader and a paramedic with the city of Cincinnati. They quickly began using their military and civilian training to triage the patient while the rest of the platoon used their vehicles to block off traffic to provide a safe place to work.
“I’m certainly proud of my Soldiers,” said 1st Lt. Wes Farley, the 1st Platoon leader. “Mostly it was Compton and Volz, the rest of the platoon and I just did what we could to facilitate their freedom of maneuver to treat as best as possible.”
Compton and Volz continued to try to stabilize the patient using the basic medical supplies they carry on their military body armor, and with the additional supplies provided by a local volunteer firefighter who came upon the scene.
“We really didn’t think he was going to make it, he was really messed up,” Compton said. “I worked for MedFlight and we see some of the worst of the worst. This guy was one of the top 10 worst patients I’ve ever had to treat.”
When the first civilian emergency personnel arrived, Compton quickly brought the two-person crew of firefighters up to speed. They immediately focused on removing the passenger from the car with the help of the Soldiers of 1st Platoon, while Compton and Volz continued providing patient care.
“The firefighters did really good, you can’t ask for anything better,” Compton said. “They realized because Sgt. Volz and I are both paramedics that we know what we’re doing with the medical side, so they said, ‘We’ll do everything else.’”
When the emergency squad arrived, Compton and Volz helped transfer the patient into the back and continued care, with the local emergency medical technicians providing assistance.
“They saw the level we were working and realized, ‘Hey you guys know what you’re doing,’” Compton said. “‘Do what you need to do and we’ll get you what you need.’”
When the word came in that a medical helicopter was en route to pick up the patient, the ambulance quickly sped off to the nearby landing zone, with Compton and Volz still inside. The military convoy, with a law enforcement escort, quickly followed.
When the helicopter arrived, Compton and Volz helped transfer the patient and briefed the flight crew on the care they had provided before it took off, carrying the patient to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was treated for multiple broken ribs, a clavicle fracture and a head bleed.
“Everybody kept telling me ‘Hey, you guys are heroes,’ but I don’t think so,” Compton said. “It’s what we do in our civilian side and it was a group effort. For something so chaotic to go as smooth as it did, I think it really shows just the leadership and how great these guys are.” |
