I was sitting at the ambulance building reading a book. My partner is doing her medical school homework. The pager blasts an EMS alert and we get a brief synopsis of the emergency. My partner pops the over head door open, I pull the ambulance out of the building and pull the parking brake, we both hop in the back of the "rig," I call dispatch for a recap of the emergency. We both wait for the driver to arrive. In rolls the local dude ambulance driver who hails from the era of the butcher, baker, and candlestick maker manning the fire department. It would be wrong of me to suggest he might have been home watching the game and having a beer....or two....or three....
Green County is rife with curving, hilly farm roads, with no shoulders, and deep ditches. As we blasted down one of these roads to what was described to us as a single car wreck, my partner and I gathered the appropriate gear in the back of the rolling ambulance. Said local driver dude had the pedal to the metal. For those that do not know, ambulances are like armored cars....loaded with metal frame, filled with tools, and....top heavy. Local driver dude got too close to the edge of the road and the rear wheels started to pull the rig into the ditch. Why we did not crash, I have no idea. At any rate, my partner and I were thrown about with our equipment. Long story made short, after local driver dude luckily righted the rig, I found my partner square on my lap....in perfect stripper lap dance position. There was a moment of stunned pause, she blew her hair out of her face, giggled, and we went back to preparing our gear
"Christ!" I said. "I don't want to die with you on my lap."
We arrived at the scene of a one-car wreck. On that crisp late weekend morning the sedan sat in a goat pasture amongst some neglected apple trees, The vehicle was upside down. In it hung a young girl....upside down in the driver seat. In a moment, a fire crew showed up. Our fire department, believe it or not, was not highly certified to give much medical aid. There are several levels of options for responders - our fire department had virtually no medical certification other than basic fire fighting training.
Result, I or my ambulance partner would need to enter the vehicle to see if said girl was still alive. The car was crushed a bit, so the rear window was a bit narrower than normal. My partner....how can I put this delicately? - let's just say that at the time, had a challenge which would make it hard for her to get through the broken window.
As I reached the girl in the car, it was like being in some kind of disaster movie. I had only inches to work with. I could feel the car being jostled by the fire fighters as they dissected it trying to reach me and the girl. I remember thinking, "I hope this thing don't blow up."
The fire fighters diligently monitored my every second in the crushed car. My partner did most of the medical work once we all got the girl out of the car. We called the helicopter because the girl, although alive, was not responding well. The chopper landed in a minefield of goat dung piles and rotten apples.
The upside down girl eventually survived.
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On another car crash scene, we arrived just outside of town to find three cars in a tangled mess. It was a bright summer weekend day. There were several patients. Of course being a weekend, there was lots of volunteer fire fighters on call, and we had several EMTs respond. It quickly became evident, we would need a couple more ambulances from neighboring services, and we called in two helicopters. It was like a war landing zone triage site. That is one of the nuances that kept me in EMS for so long. There was never a lack of war zone-esque adrenalin rush once we were on a scene.
I was pleased with my self. Due to so many car crash patients I had to start an intravenous (IV) drip line on one of the patients in a ditch for the pending helicopter crew. I was so proud when the helicopter nurse just continued her medication application to the patient from my field IV set up.
Field IV lines do not always look as pretty as those dandy hospital presentations you see in the Intensive Care unit. My line had various swatches of tape holding the syringe to the back of the the patient's hand. Text book it was not.
At the end of all our work at the crash scene, the last patient was being hoisted on the last helicopter out. I was helping lift the patient in the bird when suddenly my young partner arbitrarily threw a tennis shoe into the floor of the chopper. She turned and there stood a sheriff's deputy. By the time the mess of the multiple car crash was sorted out, several law enforcement agencies were on scene. It was becoming apparent, the cause of the wreck may have been alcohol related. It was therefore considered a potential crime scene. It was then incumbent on us as public safety workers that we move as few items as possible at the scene. The deputy had apparently had a rough afternoon and the errant tennis shoe toss was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Said deputy launched into a verbal lambast of my poor partner's crime scene indiscretion regarding the "evil tennis shoe" and he proceeded with a monologue of with how he was considering charging her with hindering an investigation, obstructing an officer, and tampering with a crime scene.
Without thinking too much about what to say I stepped between them both and blurted out, "Officer, what is the status of the vehicle in the ditch; can we consider that car as empty?" It made little sense, and was pretty much a moot issue by now, but it was enough distraction for him to completely forget about my partner. The two of us had worked together long enough for her to understand that this was a cue letting her know she needed to vanish.
The cop and I headed for the car in the ditch to apparently address my marginally ridiculous question.
Note: This blog "Jobs of Bob" Category does not list the jobs chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older job. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Jobs of Bob Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Sergeant Nickolas Anthony Mueller, 26, of Little Chute, Wisconsin, died in Darreh-ye Bum, Badghis province, Afghanistan on October 26, 2009. He was killed due to the crash of the MH-47 Chinook helicopter he was aboard. Sergeant Mueller was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), out of Hunter Army Airfield, Savannah, Georgia. Mueller was one of seven soldiers killed in the incident. Two choppers were involved in the crash.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes the village of Little Chute is in Outagamie County, Wisconsin. Nickolas was a 2002 graduate of Little Chute High School. He was a member of the school's wrestling and football teams for the majority his high school years. He was in the pep band and sang in the school's choir. Nickolas also was homecoming king in his senior year. He is remembered as a well liked young man. Mueller was a crew chief on one of the helicopters. The Journal Sentinel also mentioned Family members are quoted as saying Nickolas always wanted to be a fighter pilot. He had a long interest in the military and aircraft.
Information via Arlington National Cemetery mentioned the Pentagon said the helicopter crashed while returning from the scene of a battle with suspected Taliban drug traffickers. It is not believed the crash was a result of hostile fire. Mueller was remembered in school as outgoing and gregarious and he enjoyed debating with his teachers. Aside from wrestling and football, he ran track, and played the saxophone. Mueller joined the Army in June 2004. After basic training, he served for two years with the 252nd Aviation Battalion at Camp Humphries, South Korea, repairing helicopters. Mueller then joined Special Operations as a flight engineer in 2007. He had reenlisted in the Army twice and was on his third deployment to Afghanistan at the time of his death. The Arlington obituary went on to mention Nickolas' dream was to someday be a pilot. He also enjoyed his motorcycle. Nickolas met his girl friend in September of 2008.
Wisconsin 2009 Joint Assembly Resolution 104 notes Sergeant Mueller's military awards as including Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; Combat Action Badge; Basic Aviation Badge; Army Good Conduct Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Korean Defense Service Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; two Meritorious Service Medals; five Air Medals; and, three Bronze Star Medals.
At the time of his death Nickolas Mueller was survived by his parents, Sharon and Larry Mueller; older brother John (Stefani) Mueller; and his girlfriend Heather Huckett. Sergeant Mueller was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Nickolas Mueller was the 16th Wisconsin military service person to be killed in Afghanistan since October of 2001.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011
100,949 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,950 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,455 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1582 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
881 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
32,090 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
11,411 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
31 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
148 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
5 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org.
