Soldier saves life at Hurlburt gym

by Staff Sgt. Victoria Sneed
1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs

10/9/2013 - HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. -- Sept. 19 was just another day to work out at the Aderholt Fitness Center for Army Spc. Robert Taylor, a health care specialist attached to the 6th Ranger Training Battalion.

However, Taylor noticed something out of the ordinary during a water break.

"I saw a man sitting on the floor between two treadmills and a woman trying to get him to drink," he said. "It struck me as odd that he wasn't taking the water, so I kept watching. I remember saying to myself, 'Please don't faint.'"

At that very moment, the gentleman lost consciousness.

"I ran over immediately and did all my primary assessments," Taylor said. "He had no pulse and wasn't breathing."

Taylor said his training as a combat medic kicked in and he instructed a bystander to bring the Automated External Defibrillator and call 911.

"The AED was brought over, plugged in and placed on the patient," he said. "The device analyzed the situation and administered a shock. There was no response, so I continued CPR."

After a few rounds of CPR, someone else joined him, administering "rescue breaths" between sets of chest compressions until the emergency medical technicians arrived.

"Once the EMTs arrived, the patient received oxygen and I continued compressions until he could be loaded into the ambulance," said Taylor.

The patient was at the gym with his family and suffered a heart attack while on a stationary bicycle.

He went to Fort Walton Beach Medical Center by ambulance, where he underwent a procedure to unblock the clogged arteries which led to the heart attack.

"If it weren't for [Taylor and his accomplice] that man may have been another statistic," said Col. Mark Fassl, Army Joint Support Team director, who witnessed the event. "Those two men exhibited the reasons we join -- to serve others at the highest level."

However, Taylor said he doesn't think he did anything extraordinary.

"Given my abilities, I did what I had to do," he said. "Anybody would do what I did."

Underneath his quiet, humble exterior Taylor has the heart of a leader.

"In the military we are trained from day one to become a leader," he said. "Leaders act and don't wait for someone else to step in, you do what you are trained to do."

Because of Taylor's actions, Fassl recommended him for the Soldier's Medal, which is the Army's highest non-combat decoration.

"To know a colonel even thinks of recommending a medal [to me] is amazing and humbling," said Taylor. "Just to know I could help and the patient survived feels good."