‘Train as you fight’ … or save lives

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Stacia Zachary
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Training is something leadership has deemed mandatory yet many wonder, "When will I ever need this?"

For Senior Airman Gerald Sarno, 100th Security Forces Squadron pass and registration clerk, his ancillary training on how to save a life wasn't needed on a battlefield, rather to save a baby's life.

During the Independence Day firework display at RAF Feltwell, Sarno was performing security checks of people attending the event when he heard a woman screaming for help.

"There was a massive flow of people coming on base and then I heard this woman screaming and shoving her way through the crowd trying to get our attention," said Sarno, from East Brunswick, N.J. "She kept screaming that her friend's baby was dying and wasn't breathing."

Sarno took off running with Senior Airman Justin Wood, 100th SFS response force leader, close on his heels. As soon as they got to the scene, Sarno immediately began assessing the child's physical state and took over attending to the baby. Wood began by setting up security for the area so his partner could render medical aid.

Because of their coordinated response, the two were able to deftly assess, respond and secure the scene.

"Because I had a good wingman, the scene was controlled which allowed me to focus on the child," Sarno said.

"As I followed Sarno toward the baby, I was radioing in every detail I could over the net to get medical in route (immediately)," said Wood. "Besides securing the scene, I believe this was the most important part I contributed because I was the only one with a radio at our search tent that day. Sarno thankfully got the baby stable because the ambulance didn't show up until a few minutes later."

When Sarno took over medical assistance from the mother, the baby wasn't responsive, was blue all over, was not breathing and the child's eyes were rolled back. Sarno immediately began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. When the breaths failed to raise the chest, he tried a different tactic and placed his hand beneath the baby's back to raise the chest and allow airflow.

"Training highly influenced my reaction," Sarno said. "I was a lifeguard in New Jersey so I had a lot of life-saver training from before I joined, but it was just a natural reaction to help the child because of the (Self-Aid and Buddy Care) and CPR training."

"Repetition, repetition, repetition. I've gone through enough training where it's now just a reaction to respond to a situation," Wood said. "We operated in a unified effort by each taking care of a portion of the task that needed to get completed. It happened too fast to think about it; we just reacted."

Oftentimes, training is very structured and dry, causing many to question the usefulness of the myriad courses Airmen are responsible for knowing. Nonetheless, training has been identified as a tool Airmen and civilian personnel may likely find themselves in need of to complete the mission or for use in their personal lives.

"People will sit through training and wonder why they are there," Sarno said. "Thank God I paid attention, otherwise I would not have been able to respond."

While some training seems mission- or job-specific, this situation in particular illustrated just how far-reaching that education can go.

"Training isn't just occupation-based - this stuff goes beyond our lives while on duty," Sarno said. "Anytime a situation arises, it's important to do whatever you can and to the best of your ability. It doesn't matter if you're wearing the uniform or off duty, your training can be used anywhere."