Whenever you walk around base, you may not be aware that—should fate call them—you are passing holders of Medal of Honor, Navy Cross and other heroes. Sure, they don’t have it now, but should circumstances allow—their true character will be revealed.
When you join the service, you have no idea what will find you in the course of your service, or when just another boring duty day turns into something immortal.
In the horrible tragedy over the weekend in Texas, we saw an example of this in the person of USCG rescue swimmer, Petty Officer Third Class Scott Ruskan.
Ruskan, a U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer from Oxford, New Jersey, is being credited with saving 165 kids and camp counselors from Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian camp where around 200 children were trapped by rising flood waters.
…
Petty Officer 3rd Class Scott Ruskan is a U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer from Oxford Township in Warren County. He earned a bachelor's degree in accounting, with a minor in Homeland Security Policy, from Rider University in 2021, according to his LinkedIn page. He is a 2017 graduate of Warren Hills High School, who recognized their alumnus in a Facebook post.
…
Ruskan has been stationed at US Coast Guard Station Corpus Christi, about 210 miles from Kerrville in central Texas, where the Guadalupe River flooded its banks. He told GMA it took nearly six hours to reach the flood zone due to the weather, and once he landed, he was the only certified rescue swimmer on scene at Camp Mystic.
The humble professional.
"I just happened to be on the duty crew," the 26-year-old New Jersey native said
…
"I kind of discovered I was the only person there as far as first responders go. So I had about 200, kids mostly. All scared, terrified, cold, having probably the worst day of their life. And I just kind of needed to triage them, get them to a higher level of care and get 'em off the flood zone."
The heroic first responder worked alongside members of the United States Army National Guard to get the people loaded and to safety.
"We kind of came up with two different landing zones. There was one off an archery field and then one in a soccer field. We were able to kind of land those 60s [rescue helicopters] in there. I was kind of the main guy as far as grabbing people," he said.
…
"I really just kind of relied on the training we get. Coast Guard rescue swimmers get some of the highest level training in the world. So really just kind of relied on that, just knowing that any of the rescue swimmers in the Coast Guard would have done the exact same if not better than me," he said.
He was also bolstered by the children on the scene, who he knew were relying on his skills.
"They don't really know what my experience is or my rank or my age," he said. "They just know, 'Hey this guy is a professional, and he's here to help us.' And I kind of had to live up to that standard."
"Just the duty crew". Something for every watchstander to remember. Emergencies, by definition, are unexpected. We can train for them and plan for them, but they come when they come.
From PadreSteve.com, on the Pearl Harbor attack - "The destroyer USS Blue got underway under the command of Ensign Nathan Asher, who had just three other ensigns with him as that ship got underway. She was joined by Monaghan, Dale, Henley, Phelps, Farragut, MacDonough, Worden, Patterson, Jarvis and Aylwin also under command of a junior officer, Ensign Stanley Caplan. Henley left without her commander under the command of Lieutenant Francis Fleck Jr. Others too got underway, The USS Mugford was the duty destroyer and got underway quickly, as did Cummings. The Ralph Talbot was underway by 0900. Conyngham got underway in the early afternoon. Perhaps the most interesting story was the USS Selfridge which got underway manned by a composite crew of 7 different ships."
Back in ancient hisory, when as a member of a pre-comm crew I took the OOD Basic course as a refresher, the CO of the school had been an Ensign aboard a hospital ship during the Korean War. One day they were in port at anchor and there was to be a big party that night. Everyone that was anyone wanted to go to the party, so the Duty Fill-in-the-Blank personnel found substitutes however they could.....all the way down to a certain Ensign (the school CO) becoming the CDO. He and a Warrant engineer were all the officers left onboard. A really bad storm came up, of course. The CO, ashore, could not return to the ship due to the waves and wind. The anchor dragged. The ship went from steaming auxiliary to steaming for maneuvering. The CO watched as the lights shifted from at-anchor to underway, saw his ship recover the anchor, make a circle, drop and set the anchor, and the lights shift from underway to at-anchor. Duty crews matter.
"Just the duty crew". Something for every watchstander to remember. Emergencies, by definition, are unexpected. We can train for them and plan for them, but they come when they come.
From PadreSteve.com, on the Pearl Harbor attack - "The destroyer USS Blue got underway under the command of Ensign Nathan Asher, who had just three other ensigns with him as that ship got underway. She was joined by Monaghan, Dale, Henley, Phelps, Farragut, MacDonough, Worden, Patterson, Jarvis and Aylwin also under command of a junior officer, Ensign Stanley Caplan. Henley left without her commander under the command of Lieutenant Francis Fleck Jr. Others too got underway, The USS Mugford was the duty destroyer and got underway quickly, as did Cummings. The Ralph Talbot was underway by 0900. Conyngham got underway in the early afternoon. Perhaps the most interesting story was the USS Selfridge which got underway manned by a composite crew of 7 different ships."
Back in ancient hisory, when as a member of a pre-comm crew I took the OOD Basic course as a refresher, the CO of the school had been an Ensign aboard a hospital ship during the Korean War. One day they were in port at anchor and there was to be a big party that night. Everyone that was anyone wanted to go to the party, so the Duty Fill-in-the-Blank personnel found substitutes however they could.....all the way down to a certain Ensign (the school CO) becoming the CDO. He and a Warrant engineer were all the officers left onboard. A really bad storm came up, of course. The CO, ashore, could not return to the ship due to the waves and wind. The anchor dragged. The ship went from steaming auxiliary to steaming for maneuvering. The CO watched as the lights shifted from at-anchor to underway, saw his ship recover the anchor, make a circle, drop and set the anchor, and the lights shift from underway to at-anchor. Duty crews matter.
We are so fortunate as a Nation to still have men like this serving our country!