Medic has a knack for being on scene of emergencies

by Chris McCann
JBER Public Affairs

11/7/2013 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- It was hour 12 of a September convoy, about an hour from Glennallen, Alaska, when the vehicles slowed and Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Wahler mentally cursed - another vehicle down during a trip which had already been plagued with Humvee repairs.

Then the reason came over the radio - a civilian motor vehicle accident. Someone was injured.

Wahler's vehicle, one of the last in the convoy on their way to Donnelly Training Area near Delta Junction, moved up, and Wahler, the senior medic, was ready when they stopped.
"It was a civilian truck," he recalled. "I assessed the casualty on the ground; he was conscious. I took the shirt on his head off, and it looked like maybe an open skull fracture."

The man had been a passenger in a vehicle driven by his son. The son, mostly uninjured, had gotten his father out of the truck.

Wahler called Spc. Randy Sickles, another medic with the 1st Squadron (Airborne), 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, and gave directions.

"Sickles is the one that got me the stuff I needed from our [field litter ambulance]," Wahler said. "We got him bandaged and put him in a cervical collar. It was damp out and misting, only about 50 degrees outside, so we got him into the FLA. Specialist Sickles - when everything happened, he was the kid that really worked hard. ... We put [the victim] on oxygen, kept him warm, and waited for the civilian ambulance."

Due to the remote location, civilian medical help took about 25 minutes to arrive.
"They put him on their ambulance and took him to an airfield," Wahler said. "Then he was on a Learjet to Anchorage."

Once the patient was in good hands, the convoy continued to DTA.

For some, saving a life on the spur of the moment might be grounds for a little boasting.
"I guess I have a unique ability to look at the job differently," Wahler said. "It's just another call - I don't get upset or excited; it's just a call."

An Army brat, Wahler wanted to join the military police. His father, a recruiter, was the son of an MP himself, Wahler said.

He was well aware of the demands of the job, and was having none of that.

"I went to the [military entrance processing station] and said I wanted to be an MP. But Dad said no, so I decided to be a medic."

While not his first choice, Wahler has made the most of his career.

"I enjoy it. There are days when it's the worst job in the world, but mostly I enjoy it."
The worst part?

"Putting someone you know in a body bag. That's the worst thing to do. Telling his guys he didn't make it."

And the best?

"Watching the medics you taught do the things they're supposed to do. Saving someone, that's just part of my job. But to see a medic do something they're supposed to do and save a life, and see their reaction to that - those are the best days."

Wahler has deployed to Bosnia once, Afghanistan thrice, and once to Iraq.

"I've seen my medics succeed in Iraq and Afghanistan ... a lot of my guys were fresh out of [Advanced Individual Training] in Iraq; in Afghanistan I had opportunities to go out and watch them. I could just watch them, and let them do it until they finished or asked for help."

Sickles has worked closely with Wahler for the last year.

"He's a good leader," Sickles said. "He's personable and easy to talk to.

There are some [noncommissioned officers] you can't talk to, and then there are
NCOs like Sergeant Wahler. He has no problem answering questions."

Wahler seems to have a knack for being in the right place at the right time, said Headquarters and Headquarters Troop 1st Sgt. Jerry Bronson.

"Just yesterday, there was an incident with a Soldier at the motor pool," Bronson said. "[Wahler] ran down there and evaluated him and called an ambulance. It was serious enough that he was taken directly to Providence [Hospital].

"He's one of my best NCOs - there are a few people who really love what they're doing in the military, and he's one of them. He's very passionate about it."

Recently, he was in midtown Anchorage when he found a vehicle stopped at Seward Highway and Northern Lights Road.

"There was a gentleman having a seizure," he said. "I stopped and sat there in the truck with him, and two seconds later, Anchorage Police showed up. The fire department showed up not even five minutes later.

"I love the fact that I'm around sometimes; it feels pretty good. But I don't brag about it," Wahler said.

"The job has its difficulties, but I don't find it as hard as people think it is.

For the most part, I see the bleeding, I make it stop. That's the critical point. Stop the
bleeding, keep him breathing ... it's not brain surgery."

Since a combat medic generally deals with trauma and passes off the casualty to a better-equipped doctor, he said the job isn't terribly complicated.

"I fell into the job; it's just one of those things I figured out," Wahler said. "It's not a job for the fainthearted; you need to have a resiliency in combat. But it's not a "higher calling" for me.

"I did know I wanted to be a Soldier - as far back as I can remember."

When he's not saving lives or teaching subordinates, Wahler fishes - for "anything that will hit on a bobber and a worm" - as much as he can in the summer, if the weather is good.

"I'm a temperate dude; only if it's sunny," he said. While he moved a lot growing up, many of his father's assignments, and later his own, allowed him to hunt deer and other game, a hobby he continues, with a caribou hunt slated for this winter.

His secret to resiliency, after five deployments, is to talk about the hard things.

"I use my experiences to tie into teaching, or what my guys are teaching. If someone asks me about the bad stuff, I can go down the list. I don't bottle it up. I care about Soldiers with all my heart, but at the end of the day, it's just a case."