For Service members and retirees, past military experience can come back in flash.
Fort Jackson's assistant inspector general found himself having to draw on his military experience during a recent trip to Kentucky when he was part of a group who saved a man's life.
Renaldo Turner, and a TRADOC IG team were on temporary duty in Louisville, Kentucky. After an inspection they stopped for dinner at a restaurant when a person "came in asking if there was any medical personnel" in the restaurant because there was a man slumped over in his car.
Turner and Sgt. 1st Class Jason Cheely, TRADOC's assistant inspector general sprang into action.
The team ran to the car and help extricate the man who appeared he "was already deceased. He was cold and purple," Turner said.
While some on the scene said it was too late and the man was gone, Turner and his team urged rescue efforts to continue. Turner and Cheely continued using the rescue breathing techniques they learned in the Army.
They only stopped when a woman who identified herself as a nurse took over and commenced cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
It was "surreal almost as if moving in slow motion, but the actions of the team seemed instinctual," said Lt. Col. Larry Jordan, TRADOC's inspector general, who was at the scene.
"The guys sprang into action without a moment's hesitation," Jordan added. "I was proud of them and the fact they were willing to do something. Not everyone would. To me it is just another indication of what it means to live by the Army Values."
CPR continued until paramedics arrived. After being put into an ambulance, the man was resuscitated.
"The last word I received was that he was in intensive care and would make it," Turner said.
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