U.S.Army Combat Medic. 1990 - 2000. Saved some, lost some. Military and Civilian. The ones I lost are still with me … Should have done better.
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You can’t look at it that way! It will eat at you forever. Believe me! I know that’s hard but I’m sure you did every possible thing you could do! Thank you for you service!
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Yes, a former coworker with CPR. I am not a medical professional. I was in my early 20s and used high school CPR training. It freaked me out a bit, and he tried showering me with the affection of appreciation for years. I was always very uncomfortable around him after that.
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After 25 years of working as a Military Medic, Firefighter, or Paramedic I don’t look at it as saving lives. It’s postponing the inevitable now.
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Saved one, Lost one. I attended the Univ. of Illinois in my Jr. and Sr. years. I was a P. E. major and participated bin the intramural program as a Basketball Referee. While officiating a game at Huff Gym, I noticed one of the referees non another court fall. He remained flat on his face and did not move. I ran to that court and as no one was doing anything I knelt down next to the man and checked his vitals (I was certified in first aid). There was no pulse and his lipa were turning blue. I told someone to call an ambulance and I proceeded to start mouth to mouth resuscitation and heart massage. I applied this for about 10 minutes until the ambulance arrived. When the EMTs took over, they checked the man’s vitals and placed an oxygen mask on him, but never turned on the oxygen. I found out later that the man had passed.
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About three years after the U of I incident I was teaching in the Chicago school system. We were in the school swimming pool and we were between classes, I had three or four students in the pool with me and I was showing them some life saving techniques, One of the students advised me that a student had come into the pool and was in trouble. The students, who could not swim, had mistakenly jumped into the wrong end of the pool and gone under. I swam to him and pulled him out of the pool. As he was not breathing I started mouth to mouth resuscitation. After a minute or two he coughed up water and started breathing. An ambulance had been called and they took him to the local hospital. The next day the student and his parents met with me. They thanked me for what I had done and advised me that the young man I had saved was planning on joining the navy after graduation.
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Donated 212 units of blood so far. Does that count?
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Sure does.
Oftentimes the little things we do every day can have far reaching impacts on others’ lives that we’ll never know about. I’ve had a couple cases where I ran into someone I had talked to just briefly years before who told me that the brief talk had a big positive impact on their life. Wish I could remember the wisdom I passed on so I could use a little bit of it for myself:)
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This question caused me to really stop and think about it. Yes, I saved a lot of lives BUT that was what I was trained, and equipped to do. On top of that, some lady over a radio told me where and when to do it. Sure the kids were special, but I just don’t think it counts the same…
So here’s to all you folks that have answered here, wherein you did what needed to be done without any advantages. If I am ever in a fix, I hope one of you is near by. Cheers!
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My life has been saved several times. In the last phase of my career evolution, I became an RN, I was told by others that I had saved several lives.
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As a member of a Search and Rescue unit for 15 years (Auto extraction and Land and Water S.A.R.) we have saved more than a few lives, although it was more of a group effort then individual. 
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Before I would ever take the credit for saving some ones life I would truly have to remember to breathe for the ones that I could not save and the guilt is just to much my lord what a question amen Bobby Jean 
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7 Confirmed 34 Probables
On patrol, August 29, 1979, South China Sea, 200 miles off the coast of VIet Nam, searching in a Navy P-3 Orion sub hunter looking for Vietnamese “Boat People” fleeing from the Communists in any boat they could find and put to sea. The crew had located one of these boats dead in the water, due to mechanical breakdown or fuel starvation and we were trying to identify it so we could drop a survival package of food and water. There were a lot of people on that little boat. About two miles away and while maneuvering the plane for another Identification pass the copilot spotted seven people in the water clinging to boxes, boards and wreckage. We came around and dropped one of the aircraft life rafts to them, which left us short if we had to ditch the plane. Seeing them safe in the raft we left the area to see if we could find a ship to pick them up. The radar operator found a ship about 25 miles away and we flew to its position and identified it as an Israeli cargo vessel. They would not talk to us on the radio. By flying right across their bow and dropping a series of smoke markers we carried in the direction of the raft, the Captain figured out what we wanted and changed course towards the raft. The ship picked up the seven survivors in the raft and also picked up the 34 people on board the refugee boat, as well. After the pick up their radio began to work and they let us know that one of the women clinging to wreckage was pregnant. Never knew what happened to them until I did some research a couple of years ago. They were dropped off in Singapore and spent a few weeks in a refugee camp and then were re-settled in Israel about a month after their rescue. The thirteen guys on our crew each had a little , but significant, part saving those 41 lives. We were in the right place, at the right time, with the right training and the right equipment to do some good.
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Long, long ago and far, far away. Pulled a young Okinawan girl from a deep tidal pool. She wasn’t breathing. Administered what was called artificial respiration in those days. She coughed, spit up and started breathing. No 911 in those days. In Japan I think it is 711 but still non=existent in those days. After about a half hour of resting she walked home with the rest of her group of kids.
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Awesome account. Gave me chills.
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While doing research a couple of years ago I found a video of their arrival in Israel. I got to see every one of those people, including a new baby born in the refugee camp, as they came down the aircraft ladder. The news clip also showed them settling in to their new apartments. It was the highlight of my 23 year Navy career and is the best thing I have ever done in my life. Unfortunately, I lost touch with the crew members and haven’ been able to share the happy end of the story with them.
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Tim-D-USCCA I HAVE HAD A PERSON THAT HAS CLAMED TO BE A CALIFORNIA RETIRED COURT REPORTER AND THEY HAVE IMPLIED THAT I AM MENTALLY ILL, and that I should be taking psychotic medications 
and they are saying that they are the same court reporter who was at the murder trial that I was the star states witness 
and they have slandered me from the community platform and no one has a problem with this and I was a minor at the time and they could have very well been the court reporter for the GRATE STATE OF CALIFORNIA AND IF SO SLANDER IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF THIS THE COMMUNITY HAS BEEN PLAYING WITH THE USCCA MEMBERS , and I am one of the members that they have slandered and I do not have A mental illness please look in to this I have the name of the states prosecutor who tried all four cases thank you Bobby Jean 
Yes you did save her life. If she could have survived that fall, she would have had a life in a wheel chair and or serious neurological damage. So you acted rather than watched and DID save her life. How pathetic the Mom did not show any appreciation to you, spoke volumes about her character. You save a child’s life and get a cold stare, shame on her. Thank God for you my brother.
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Blood donors save the lives of people they haven’t even met.
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