Coast Guard Swimmer Who Rescued 165 from Camp Mystic amid Texas Floods: 'Real Heroes Were the Kids on the Ground

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

A young Coast Guard rescue swimmer is being hailed as a hero after saving 165 people at Camp Mystic amid the devastating flooding in Texas.

Around 7 a.m. on Friday, July 4, Scott Ruskin was on duty at the U.S. Coast Guard's Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas when the call came in for his team to respond to deadly flooding that was sweeping across Central Texas.

-snip-

He noted that a flight between Corpus Christi, Texas, and Hunt, Texas, would usually only take about an hour. However, "some pretty serious weather" led to "some of the worst flying we've ever dealt with."

Ruskin estimated that the flight actually took between seven and eight hours. Once they arrived, they landed at Camp Mystic, a girl's camp located along the Guadalupe River.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/coast-guard-swimmer-rescued-165-141113466.html

[Seeking Serenity]

1. INB4 this thread quickly drops off the first page

[marble falls]

4. I always scan page two when events are turning out new headlines in quick manner. Secondly, responding to any OP ...

... put it back up the line.

[marble falls]

2. The owner, was a fire chief in two different jurisdictions and loved children, he stepped into the water early in the ..

... the event to grab someone out of the water and was dragged in and drowned. He had saved live in floods at crossings many times in his career.

[usonian]

3. Coasties are THE BEST, and rescue swimmers are out of this world heroes and heroines.

TOUGHER THAN NAILS.
https://www.sandboxx.us/news/in-their-own-words-tougher-than-nails-coast-guard-swimmers-describe-rescues/

Starts here.

They don't show Coast Guard boot camp in winter. Brrrrrrrrrrrr.
How did I ever graduate boot camp? Believe in miracles.


How to Become a Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer
https://www.nsin.us/coast-guard-rescue-swimmer/

[Ex Lurker]

5. The rest of the story. He quit quit a Wall Street job to join the Coast Guard nt.

[mitch96]

6. The movie "Guardian" with Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher gives you a taste of CG rescue swimmer training.

Pretty good movie too...
m

[berniesandersmittens]

7. Job well done Sir

Thank you for being there.

[lostnfound]

8. Doesn't say he actually did any swimming... He says his work was after flood subsided.

the pilots were also brave to be there.

During the rescue mission, Ruskan said he was the only first responder at Camp Mystic, having traveled there with two pilots and a flight mechanic. The crew took off for Central Texas from Corpus Christi at about 6:30 a.m. and took seven or eight hours to reach the camp grounds due to the weather conditions in Texas. "They said it was probably some of the worst conditions they've ever flown in," said Lt. Commander Steven Roth, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard.
The crowd Ruskan found was cold, huddled and scared, according to the Coast Guard. So he got to work. Roth said Ruskan set up a triage to evaluate campers' medical conditions and prioritize a series of evacuations with a set of 12 helicopters. Roth said Ruskan guided groups of 10 to 15 children onto the helicopters stationed between two landing zones, which Ruskan arranged with the National Guard and Texas state officials.
One was an archery field. The other, a soccer field. The helicopters took off, carrying the survivors to medical care.
Roth said Ruskan was on the ground for hours, guiding children to the aircraft. He said much of the flooding had subsided at the time, but debris was scattered, buildings were crumbling and rain was pouring.

I admire the man and the work that all of these guys do. But I feel that a flurry of stories of a feel good story with an angle that a rescue swimmer saved 165 people is probably an achievement of a PR person trying to displace deeper questions about what happened and why.