Team of Illinois Army National Guard Medics Respond to Real-Life Emergency During Northern Strike Exercise in Michigan

Four Illinois Army National Guard medics showed what it means to be ‘Always Ready, Always There’ by assisting an injured motorcyclist while on annual training, Aug. 10, while supporting the Northern Strike exercise on Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center in Michigan.
“It was clear that they knew what they were doing,” said Sgt. Matt Swope of the Crawford County (Mich.) Sheriff’s Office, one of the first responders who responded to the scene. “By the time the paramedics arrived and took over, the Soldiers had stabilized the motorcyclist.”
Illinois Army National Guard Sgt. Summer Flores of the North Riverside (Ill.)-based 708th Medical Company (Ground Ambulance) said she and her three medics - Spc. Joel Ocon, Spc. Melissa Gomez, and Spc. Simon Rupniewski – were just returning from a training mission on Camp Grayling at about 1:15 p.m. when they came upon a “big chunk of metal on the highway.”
Sgt. Swope said the elderly man was driving a three-wheeled trike on U.S. 72 westbound near Lake Margrethe when one of the rear wheels gave way throwing the man from the motorcycle. He said the medics and a civilian doctor just happened to be driving by and immediately started to assist the unconscious man in the critical minutes before first responders could arrive on the scene.
Sgt. Flores said she and her Soldiers, working as a team with the doctor, secured the unconscious man on spine board, applied a pelvic binder, treated a head laceration, and helped paramedics get him unto a stretcher when they arrived.
The man is now alive and conscious, Sgt. Swope said. “Those Soldiers were a great help,” he said. He added that traffic had to be re-routed along U.S. 72 for three to four hours because of the accident.
“I am so proud of our Soldiers,” said Maj. Gen. Rodney Boyd, the Adjutant General of Illinois and Commander of the Illinois National Guard. “They received the proper training and they exercised that training to the point that it became second nature to them. When this real-life emergency happened, they were confident enough to go do their job.”

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