Five Fort Bragg Soldiers serving in the Philippines received awards, June 1, from Secretary of Defense Robert Gates who was visiting Joint Special Operations Task Force — Philippines at Camp Aguinaldo.
Staff Sgt. Roberto Flores is a Psychological Operations non-commissioned officer assigned to the 5th PSYOP Battalion at Fort Bragg, N.C. On May 15, he and four other Soldiers were driving back to their base on Basilan Island after meeting with some Armed Forces of the Philippines. It was a rainy day and the roads were dangerously curvy. At about three in the afternoon they drove by a truck next to the roadway that had crashed into a tree.
"We spotted an older man on the side of the road flagging us down and holding a sixteen-year-old boy that had clearly just suffered a major head injury. He was bleeding profusely from his face and head," explained Flores.
"We stopped and immediately everybody began to react. We had no medic with us, so it was up to our combat life saver training, and first aid training."
The group of Soldiers, which included Staff Sgt. Joshua McKay of the tactical PSYOP Team-Delta; and three members of Civil Affairs team 734, Cpt. Charles Claypool, Sgt. 1st Class Anand Budhu, and Staff Sgt. Richard Schuster, pulled three other injured Filipinos out of the wrecked truck. Among the injured Filipinos was a woman in her early 20s with a broken arm and shoulder, a man in his 20s with possible broken ribs, and an unconscious man in his 60s with severe head trauma.
The Soldiers rapidly assessed the situation and reacted with little hesitation.
"Communication was flowing through all of us as we helped one another with the victims," said Flores.
"Maybe a minute into doing the assessments, it was agreed by all of us that we needed to get the younger and older male to the hospital or they were going to die."
The group loaded the two critically injured males on the back of one of their trucks to keep them stable. The other two sat in another truck after having their injuries treated.
Staff Sgt. Flores understands and speaks Tagalog, officially called Filipino and Spanish. Both languages are used in the Philippines. Thanks to his training and proficiency with the language he was able to understand when someone in the crowd that had gathered said, "He's a doctor."
"I turn around and I see an older male in blue scrubs," Flores recalled.
"I asked him if he was a doctor. He replied yes, so I grabbed him and took him to the victims right away, and he said 'Let's get them to the hospital'".
It would take 20 minutes to get to the Basilan Regional Hospital. The doctor, whose vehicle was equipped with a siren, led the way. Staff Sgt. Flores sat in the passenger seat of the truck carrying the two critically injured males. He said that his concern for the two Filipinos gave him a big adrenaline rush.
"Riding through the towns, siren going, horns honking, and I was waving at people to move to the side of the road."
When they approached the hospital, medical personnel were awaiting their arrival. The group unloaded the four injured and let the nurses and doctors start to give their care. According to members of the Civil Affairs team, the critically injured older man and young kid both survived. A write-up for the team members' awards read,
"If not for the first aide and quick action on the parts of [the team members], it is likely that the 65-year-old male would not have survived the accident. Their efforts have been directly attributed to the saving of his life."
Flores believes that Providence had a role in getting the four Filipinos to the hospital safely.
" We talked amongst ourselves, saying that it seemed that we happened to be there at the right place at the right time, and for that doctor to show up and help with the traffic to get us to the hospital, just seemed crazy. Right place. Right time. Someone above was looking out for these four locals."
When he's not ferrying injured locals to the hospital, Flores is a member of a Tactical PSYOP Detachment. His team is working with the armed forces of the Philippines on Basilan to help them stand up their own PSYOP capabilities. Flores said that one recent big accomplishment is that the AFP set up their own medical activity program where they passed out handbills and hung posters. According to Flores, the AFP is reaching out to the local population, encouraging a two-way conversation that will hopefully eliminate or lessen the span of influence of terrorist organizations in the area.
Flores said that each award he's received throughout his Army career holds special meaning to him, but that receiving the Army Commendation Medal from the Secretary of Defense was an unexpected surprise.
"I remember being a bit nervous and having butterflies in my stomach. I don't know why, but I did. I also thought to myself, 'Never did I think that I, who grew up a poor Mexican-American kid, would be standing in front of the Secretary of Defense and receiving an award from him.' It really made it a memorable moment in my life that I will never forget."
| Date Taken: | 06.01.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 07.28.2009 13:20 |
| Story ID: | 36903 |
| Location: |
| Web Views: | 353 |
| Downloads: | 274 |
This work, Secretary of Defense lauds Bragg Soldiers for their actions in the Philippines, by SGT David Harris, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
