Guard members use instinct, military training to aid victim of car accident

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jessica Donnelly
  • 131st Bomb Wing Public Affairs
Lambert IAP --  Members from the 131st Force Support Squadron went above and beyond the call of duty Nov. 6 by taking time to help a person in need after witnessing a car accident.

Senior Master Sgt. Angela Varvel, 131st FSS Services NCO-in-charge, and Staff Sgt. Danielle Sronce, 131st FSS Services, were returning to base from lunch when they watched as an on-coming vehicle veered into the median, broke through a fence and flipped over multiple times before coming to a rest on its roof.

"It all happened so fast that I think I tensed up just because of being scared that we were going to hit the car ... and after we parked [I was scared] that someone was hurt badly or even dead from how many times the car flipped," said Sergeant Sronce.

Sergeant Sronce explained, there were two children, ages 3 and 8, as well as an adult woman in the car. The 3 year old and the woman were able to crawl out the back seat window on their own and two other men who had stopped to help were able to pull the 8 year old out of the car.

"I called 9-1-1 while we were running to the car to help...made sure everyone was out, then went back to get a first aid kit out of the jeep," said Sergeant Sronce. "I have had some classes on first aid because I work with kids and also we take self-aid and buddy care through the Guard."

While Sergeant Sronce administered first aid, Sergeant Varvel was trying to keep other cars from crashing into the scene by waiving the cars past the accident.

"My years as a cop kicked in and I started directing traffic," said Sergeant Varvel. "I was trying to get the traffic to keep moving around us because everyone was trying to stop and look."

The woman's hand was bleeding and the children seemed a bit shook up from the accident, but for the most part seemed O.K., explained Sergeant Sronce. When the ambulance arrived, the emergency medical technicians placed neck braces on all three of them and took them to the hospital.

Sergeant Varvel spent three years as an active duty Security Forces member.

Sergeant Sronce has worked with children for more than four years through the National Guard Counterdrug Drug Demand Reduction Program.

"You never know how you will react to something like that," said Sergeant Sronce. "Now I know that everything you have been trained on just kicks in."