New Mexico Minuteman - Fall 2011

Soldiers display true meaning of Citizen-Soldier
Story contributed by Company B, 1st Battalion, 200th Infantry
Before any training can take place in the
New Mexico 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, 2011, 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
New Mexico 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.
Fall 2011 / NEW MEXICO National Guard 21