Navy Divers, Best Friends Hero Up
by U.S. Navy Kimberly Menzies January
11, 2020
Feeling your heart beating hard, you tell yourself to just
remember your training. Taking in a deep breath, you dive below the
water’s surface. You cannot see, yet you know you must not miss
anyone. Seconds stretch into minutes in your mind.
You reach
your hand out, your fingers brush against a familiar hand. Together
you repeat this memorized movement.
As you drag your heavy
body from the water, you see all you pulled from the murky depths of
the pond.
Water dripping into your eyes, you know that you
have done all that could be done. There is no doubt that you “heroed
up” when it was needed most.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Travis
L. Jones and Petty Officer 3rd Class William C. Trainer, U.S. Navy
divers with Trident Refit Facility (TRIREFFAC) at Naval Submarine
Base Kings Bay, were awarded Navy Commendation Medals on October 31,
2019 for rescuing an unconscious civilian from a submerged vehicle.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Travis L. Jones and Petty Officer 3rd Class William C. Trainer, U.S. Navy divers with Trident Refit Facility (TRIREFFAC) at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, were awarded Navy Commendation Medals on October 31, 2019, for rescuing an unconscious civilian from a submerged vehicle. U.S. Navy photo by Kimberly Menzies)
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The best friends were in Tacoma, Wash., to attend a diver
conference in May when their lost luggage, and perhaps fate,
contributed to a live saving incident.
“We had to drive back
to the airport to pick up our luggage that the airline had lost,”
recalled Jones, a native of Dallas. “We had decided not to take the
ferry because it would take longer even though it would have been
shorter distance.”
Trainer, a Seattle native, then described
how they saw a vehicle lose control, land in the retention pond and
immediately began sinking. By the time they reached the vehicle is
was already submerged, Trainer said.
“A man had left the
highway at a high rate of speed and landed in a retention pond near
a freeway interchange off the roadways,” said Jeff Chandler, the
B-3B Battalion Chief with the Tacoma Fire Department and prior TRF
Sailor.
Knowing the risk of entering the water without
thermal protection, Jones and Trainer breached the retention pond to
search for and rescue any occupants of the vehicle.
“When we
got to the vehicle, we saw that the driver was unconscious,” said
Jones. “We tried the car doors on the driver’s side but they
wouldn’t open.”
The damage to the vehicle caused the driver’s
door to become warped and unable to be opened. The divers tried the
passenger-side doors with no success.
Knowing that time was
not in their favor, Jones smashed the passenger side window,
unclipped the man’s seat belt and pulled him from the vehicle.
“We swam him to shore and were met by a couple of off-duty
nurses who had also seen the car leave the road,” said Trainer.
“They took over care for the man and we went back to the vehicle to
search for any other possible passengers.”
Trainer and Jones
returned to the water multiple times to search the vehicle.
“We didn’t know if there was anyone else in the car with him, but we
knew that if there was, we needed to find them quickly,” Jones said.
The divers made quick progress with the remaining dives.
“To
give you an idea of how fast [the] divers went to work,” said
Chandler, “The call was dispatched at 18:02:29 and when I arrived
less than a minute and a half after the initial dispatch (18:03:53)
the victim was already removed from the car, placed on the edge in
the care of a passing nurse, and these two Navy divers were
continuing to search the submerged car for additional victims.”
Fortunately, they found no other passengers in the car. The
divers relied on their training, determined that they would not
missed anyone.
“When searching in low visibility, you search
by feel,” said Jones. “We would reach out until we felt the other’s
hand confirming we had felt through that area. We would move and
repeat.”
“It’s common for us to be diving in water with
little to no visibility,” said Trainer. “We definitely relied on our
training and experience to search the car.”
Both Sailors
remained on the scene and provided their accounts to local law
enforcement officials.
“Washington State Patrol asked them to
stay and make written statements,” explained Chandler. “They
remained on the scene…soaking wet, without a single complaint.”
Chandler, proud of the Sailors actions, reached out to their
leadership to personally acknowledge their heroic deeds.
“Actions like theirs are an unusual occurrence,” Chandler shared.
“It’s not often people stop, let alone stop AND have skills they are
willing to use.”
“I am very proud of Jones and Trainer,” said
Petty Officer 1st Class Stephen Schilz, a U.S. Navy diver and their
leading petty officer. “They did a great job. Their actions provided
a prime example of why we train the way we do…to be ready for
anything at any time. They were ready and as a result, they were
able to help save someone’s life.”
Jones and Trainer remain
humble and credit what they did all to training.
“When I saw
the car go off the road, the first thing that popped into my mind
was it was time to Hero Up,” explains Jones. “That is something I
tell myself all the time…it is just my way of saying it is time to
do what needs to be done.”
“Honestly, I just did what I would
hope any other person would do,” said Trainer. “Stop and help a
fellow human being…..because it is the right thing to do.”
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