{"id":295248,"date":"2024-10-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=295248"},"modified":"2024-10-07T08:34:21","modified_gmt":"2024-10-07T08:34:21","slug":"21st-tsc-soldier-saves-drowning-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=295248","title":{"rendered":"21st TSC Soldier saves drowning woman"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Sgt. Daniel Beltran, a bridge crewmember crew chief assigned to the 809th Multi-Role Bridge Company, gives directions from his M30 Bridge Erection Boat during a bridging equipment field testing exercise on the Danube River in Ingolstadt, Germany, from 12-25 Sept.
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The sky was dark and grey. The fast-moving Danube River in Ingolstadt, Germany, was swollen against its banks from several days of heavy rain.<\/p>\n

Sgt. Daniel Beltran, a bridge crewmember crew chief assigned to the 809th Multi-Role Bridge Company, stepped to the water\u2019s edge with a few fellow Soldiers to begin measuring the speed of the water\u2019s current passing by before the company began the first day of field testing its new bridging equipment.<\/p>\n

As if he were caught in a nightmare, a Soldier spotted a body floating face down in the Danube as the current carried it by. He quickly summoned Beltran.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stood there for a moment and watched to see what was happening. I thought it was possible someone was going for a swim. I saw some erratic movement and then realized that she was facedown and not moving. I started watching to see if there were any bubbles or anything. I told the CO (commanding officer) and got permission to jump in,\u201d said Beltran.<\/p>\n

Beltran plunged into the 55-degree water and fought the swift current while dragging the lifeless body 20-30 feet back to the shoreline.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got her back to the shore, and some Soldiers helped me drag her out, and we realized that she was unresponsive and not breathing. I held her head while Sergeant [Chad] Kuderer helped with chest compressions,\u201d said Beltran.<\/p>\n

The limp body began to show signs of life. After what felt like an eternity, Beltran found a weak radial pulse. The woman began regurgitating water. Beltran then instructed Sergeant Kenneth Mcgray to continue chest compressions because she still was not breathing on her own. Fortunately, an ambulance arrived quickly and began care for the woman, who began breathing and regained enough consciousness to speak German to the medical personnel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe from the moment I jumped into the water until we handed her off to the medics was five to eight minutes,\u201d said Beltran.<\/p>\n

Although the beginning of the 809th MRBC\u2019s training had gotten to a unique and dramatic start, this wasn\u2019t Beltran\u2019s first rodeo. As a former Marine stationed in Okinawa, Beltran was out on a scuba-diving trip when a fellow diver\u2019s tank ran out of air. Beltran conducted emergency underwater recovery procedures to share the remaining air in his own tank and guide the diver to the surface safely.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am scuba and CPR certified and have had lifeguard training. I wanted to reach her as fast as possible and pull them out to safety so it didn\u2019t cause further injury to them or myself. I am glad I was able to help,\u201d Beltran said.<\/p>\n

According to Capt. Michael MacGovern, the 809th company commander, a lot of luck combined with bravery and training was the winning recipe for the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were lucky. That was moving pretty quickly. If we had been a few minutes later, she would have been gone. Sergeant Beltran is a good NCO with a strong character. He\u2019s dedicated and generally laid back but professional and an expert in his craft. He\u2019s one of the phenomenal NCOs we have on the team. He just dived in and handled the situation,\u201d said MacGovern.<\/p>\n

After the event, Beltran dried off and continued the two-week-long bridging equipment field testing, culminating with the company\u2019s first bilateral exercise where the Soldiers ferried a German Pioneer Panzer tracked vehicle across the river and back successfully.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sgt. Daniel Beltran, a bridge crewmember crew chief assigned to the 809th Multi-Role Bridge Company, gives directions from his M30 Bridge Erection Boat during a bridging equipment field testing exercise on the Danube River in Ingolstadt, Germany, from 12-25 Sept. (Photo Credit: Brian Lamar) VIEW ORIGINAL The sky was dark and grey. The fast-moving Danube […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295250,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-295248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=295248"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295251,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295248\/revisions\/295251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/295250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=295248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=295248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=295248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}