Photo By Brian Lamar | The crash scene immediately North of the I-110 bridge in D'Iberville, Mississippi Aug....... read more read more
Subscribe
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- The normal routine of waking up before the sun rises, showering, brushing teeth, donning his uniform and driving to Keesler Air Force Base was interrupted for Senior Airman Broderick McMillan as he drove south on I-110 toward for the final day of the August Unit Training Assembly.
McMillan, an air transportation journeyman with the 41st Aerial Port Squadron, was making his typical scenic drive along the back bay of Biloxi and the Gulf of Mexico from his hotel room while mentally preparing for the challenges of his drill weekend. As he got within a couple of miles of Keesler, he saw something he hadn't expected that morning. A car was heading toward him in the southbound lane swerved and flipped over before resting upside down in the median. A fire erupted in the front of the car. McMillan went into action.
"I jumped out of my car, and ran toward the crash. I remember saying out loud. 'Here I am running toward a burning car,'" he said.
McMillan and another civilian broke the rest of the driver-side glass and began removing the driver from her car. While they were trying to remove her, she became upset and they worked to calm her down.
Fortunately for McMillan, helping someone while in a medical crisis was fresh on his mind since he had just trained with his unit in self-aid buddy care classes during the July UTA.
"Last month, we had just gone over all of this training. My training kicked in as we were removing her from the vehicle. We were keeping her head still in case of neck injury, and I began to look for other wounds when I found blood rushing from her head," McMillan explained.
Minutes later, emergency personnel were on the scene treating the morotorist and the fire was extinguished.
"After it was over, I just got up, brushed myself off and went into work and went on with my day," McMillan said.
Although this is McMillan's first time with an accident, he feels he responded how he always thought he would.
"That's just really the type of person I am. It is just the way I am wired. When I see someone who needs help, I just help them," McMillan said.
Lt. Shante Arnett, a nurse with the Labor and Delivery section of the Keesler Medical Facility also arrived on the scene after McMillan had helped remove the driver from the vehicle.
"He was already at the vehicle and he helped me move her further away from the vehicle," said Arnett.
McMillan is currently a therapy assistant at Ellisville State School in the recreational therapy department and is an apprentice canine training at K9 Evolution.
It was a privilege to help someone in need and I would do it again in a heartbeat, said McMillan.
| Date Taken: | 08.14.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 12.29.2016 15:50 |
| Story ID: | 218939 |
| Location: | KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Web Views: | 90 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Keesler Citizen Airman helps motorist in need, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
