20 NEW MEXICO <strong>Minuteman</strong> / <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2011</strong>
Soldiers display true meaning of Citizen-Soldier Story contributed by Company B, 1st Battalion, 200th Infantry Before any training can take place in the <strong>New</strong> <strong>Mexico</strong> National Guard, there are several hours dedicated to planning. We plan according to the location, weather and terrain. But there are those few incidents we don’t plan for but are always prepared for. On June 24, <strong>2011</strong>, Company B, 1st Battalion, 200th Infantry, troops were conducting a unit training event in the Jemez Mountains near the Valles Caldera at the East Fork of the Jemez River. During the training the Soldiers were approached by a frantic civilian who explained that a rock climber had fallen off a rock that was roughly 40 feet up and landed on his back. Staff Sgt. Christopher Poccia and Staff Sgt. Danny Theragood grabbed fi rst aid bags and headed to the scene of the accident. Upon Poccia and Theragood’s arrival at the accident, they were met by 20 children who had witnessed the horrifi c fall. The children were participating in a guided climb, when the lead guide had fallen from the rock face. Theragood and Poccia immediately determined that the climber had sustained signifi cant injury to his right side, and was having problems breathing. Spc. Shane Keno and Pvt. Shaun Kelly secured VS-17 panels along with additional supplies, and Spc. Ivan Urioste contacted the local hospitals in Los Alamos and Jemez Springs to report the incident and provide them with the closest mile marker and grid coordinates of the accident. Company B troops activated their emergency plan and jumped into action. As Theragood and Poccia began assessing and rendering aid, Sgt. Andrew Lucero stabilized the injured person’s neck to prevent additional injury. Urioste and Pvt. Jose Rodriguez began to cordon off the area and move the children to a secure spot. While Theragood, Poccia and Lucero worked on the injured civilian, Keno and Kelly moved to the entrance of the trail head to set up VS-17 panels to guide fi rst responders into the location and to clear the parking lot of civilian vehicles to make way for emergency personnel. When EMS arrived on scene approximately 15 minutes later, they found Company B Soldiers waiting for them at the trail head to guide them in and carry their EMS gear down the quarter-mile trail to the injured climber. When EMS reached the injured man, again they found Company B Soldiers had already conducted a thorough assessment, had secured the patient in a stokes litter, cervical collar and backboard and had him ready for transport to the trail head and into the waiting ambulance. Sgt. Seth Heath and Keno then carried the injured man the quarter mile up a ravine, and to the ambulance, where care was assumed by an arriving paramedic ambulance. Once care was assumed by paramedics, the Soldiers of Company B then ensured that the children from the guided tour were accounted for and safe. These Soldiers displayed the type of personal courage, willingness to serve, and professionalism which encompasses the values of the Company B, 1st Battalion, 200th Infantry “Gunslingers,” the <strong>New</strong> <strong>Mexico</strong> Army National Guard and the United States Army. The following Soldiers’ actions on that day should be emulated by all, and are in keeping with our closest traditions and values as Citizen-Soldiers: Staff Sgt. Danny Theragood (paramedic), Staff Sgt. Christopher Poccia (paramedic), Sgt. Andrew Lucero, Sgt. Seth Heath, Spc. Ivan Urioste, Spc. Shane Keno, Pvt. Shaun Kelly, Pvt. Jose Rodriguez. <strong>Fall</strong> <strong>2011</strong> / NEW MEXICO National Guard 21