- Joined
- Jun 9, 2006
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So after we finished drill last Saturday, I exit the drill location( It was a combination military museum/veterans' association/shelter thing with a nice big drill deck) and I head out to the parking lot to meet up with the two other MASG members I was carpooling with.
About 50 feet down the sidewalk from the exit, I become aware of someone crossing the street walking a bicycle. As I continue on my path, which necessarily nears his, his actions seem to become keyed to mine--he hails me, I nod and reply. That seems to be all the encouragement he needs( he seems like he has something he really wants to say). Sure enough he asks me if I can give him a ride to a specific hospital whose name I don't recall, I ask if he's having trouble, he just says He'll leave his bike, he just needs to get there.
And where even a few years ago I might have hesitated or been uneasy, not this time--this time, *BOOM*--I just went on autopilot and had the following things worked out in my head in this order in no more than *two seconds*:
*It's dark, but as he's closing into talking distance with me I see him hunched over at the diaphragm area and his hand over his solar plexus/chest area. I'm not a medic, but a problem or pain in that area would scare me ********, too--If it wasn't serious, no harm, no foul, they can discern that when they treat him, if it IS serious, I'm helping him.
*I don't know the location of the hospital, and have no vehicle, my carpoolers have not arrived near me yet, veterans building still open, front desk is manned, call ambulance from there
*Quick check of my flanks/rear/dark corners, and the fact he approached solo from some distance away confirms the remaining 10% of the 90% probablilty that this is not a setup. Not an ambush, not a threat, not a joke, Let's Go.
All that in 2 seconds and I've decided:
"Okay, sir, come on back inside with me and we're gonna get you an ambulance called".
I wheel on my bootheels and walk back in but slow down some--On the one hand I wanna get to that front desk ASAP, on the other I wanna keep him in my line of sight never more than 10 feet away so that he sees where I lead and so I can haul *** back over and assist him if walking becomes a problem, though he's shown no sign of that yet.
We get to the front desk and after he and I explain what's up to the receptionist he gets the guy a chair and arranges right away to have the ambulance called. I ask the receptionist if he needs me to stick around for any statements or anything, he says I'm all set, I go over to the guy and tell him help's on the way, he pats my arm and thanks me such as he can, he's puffin' but visibly more relieved.
In retrospect I didn't handle the situation perfectly: I would have liked to have at least remembered to have brought his bike indoors, but I was concerned with the potential risk to his life at the time, toward which end I should've been thinking to stay closer and keep him talking about what was wrong in the event he should lose consciousness and the ability to tell the arriving EMTs himself what was wrong.
All in all I'm glad to have helped, and been able to go on autopilot and assess things as quick as I did, and to have hopefully given another person a *good* image of someone in uniform.
Which is another thing I've been pondering since:
I was nearest him on the street, but not alone: did he somehow just know I was the guy to talk to, or did he choose me *because* I was still in uniform at the time?
Either way I hope I made the difference for him and I'm overall glad that I handled at least the important things as quick as I did.
About 50 feet down the sidewalk from the exit, I become aware of someone crossing the street walking a bicycle. As I continue on my path, which necessarily nears his, his actions seem to become keyed to mine--he hails me, I nod and reply. That seems to be all the encouragement he needs( he seems like he has something he really wants to say). Sure enough he asks me if I can give him a ride to a specific hospital whose name I don't recall, I ask if he's having trouble, he just says He'll leave his bike, he just needs to get there.
And where even a few years ago I might have hesitated or been uneasy, not this time--this time, *BOOM*--I just went on autopilot and had the following things worked out in my head in this order in no more than *two seconds*:
*It's dark, but as he's closing into talking distance with me I see him hunched over at the diaphragm area and his hand over his solar plexus/chest area. I'm not a medic, but a problem or pain in that area would scare me ********, too--If it wasn't serious, no harm, no foul, they can discern that when they treat him, if it IS serious, I'm helping him.
*I don't know the location of the hospital, and have no vehicle, my carpoolers have not arrived near me yet, veterans building still open, front desk is manned, call ambulance from there
*Quick check of my flanks/rear/dark corners, and the fact he approached solo from some distance away confirms the remaining 10% of the 90% probablilty that this is not a setup. Not an ambush, not a threat, not a joke, Let's Go.
All that in 2 seconds and I've decided:
"Okay, sir, come on back inside with me and we're gonna get you an ambulance called".
I wheel on my bootheels and walk back in but slow down some--On the one hand I wanna get to that front desk ASAP, on the other I wanna keep him in my line of sight never more than 10 feet away so that he sees where I lead and so I can haul *** back over and assist him if walking becomes a problem, though he's shown no sign of that yet.
We get to the front desk and after he and I explain what's up to the receptionist he gets the guy a chair and arranges right away to have the ambulance called. I ask the receptionist if he needs me to stick around for any statements or anything, he says I'm all set, I go over to the guy and tell him help's on the way, he pats my arm and thanks me such as he can, he's puffin' but visibly more relieved.
In retrospect I didn't handle the situation perfectly: I would have liked to have at least remembered to have brought his bike indoors, but I was concerned with the potential risk to his life at the time, toward which end I should've been thinking to stay closer and keep him talking about what was wrong in the event he should lose consciousness and the ability to tell the arriving EMTs himself what was wrong.
All in all I'm glad to have helped, and been able to go on autopilot and assess things as quick as I did, and to have hopefully given another person a *good* image of someone in uniform.
Which is another thing I've been pondering since:
I was nearest him on the street, but not alone: did he somehow just know I was the guy to talk to, or did he choose me *because* I was still in uniform at the time?
Either way I hope I made the difference for him and I'm overall glad that I handled at least the important things as quick as I did.
