Would you jeapardize your life for a stranger?

We were on our return to base when the distress call arrived. A Special Ops team was in trouble and needed evacuation, and our helicopter was passing directly overhead. Unfortunately, our mission to rescue the imprisoned Americans went south, and we came close to capture or destruction, but we made it to the narrow window of the pick-up.

I called in the diversion of the distress call but was ordered not to jeopardize the men we rescued, but I disregarded the order and disconnected the line. Instead, I told the pilot to head into the firefight. Of course, it would land me in front of an angry general. But I knew if I were in trouble, I would want someone to help me from entering the gates of eternity.

We found Lt. Beaumont and only two remaining members of his team alive. Abandoning the dead, we held back the enemy with the Gatling, rockets, and the 50-cals in the Huey long enough to make good our escape.

Blood drenched Beaumont’s fatigues. He sustained three separate injuries, one a severe chest wound. The medic connected him to a plasma drip, and we applied tourniquets, antiseptic coagulating powder, and bandages. The return to base was forty-five minutes.

Beaumont had trouble breathing. I kept the pressure on his chest to allow the lungs to function. Then, he unexpectedly grabbed my…