26 year old Scott Ruskan, had been an accountant who decided he wanted to serve his country. He trained to become a Coast Guard rescue swimmer and had just completed his training when he was deployed Friday morning with multiple helicopters to the Guadalupe River area after the flash flood disaster struck. He served as the only triage coordinator on-site, while also taking part in active rescues from the air and on the ground.
Scott was dropped off at Camp Mystik which had been mostly washed away with 27 of the staff and campers! The survivors which were mostly young girls were scared to death and soaked but for the most part safe at this moment. The rest of his team was ordered to another area for an active rescue mission but Scott was told to stay behind in case he spotted anyone who he could help. , plus provide comfort to many of the cold, wet, and frightened survivors. Then it came time for him to go into hero mode. The choppers returned to airlift survivors out. But they would have to wade across some dangerous water to get to the helicopters.
Scott brought 165 people through those waters to the airlift in what was his first-ever mission!
“I’ve never seen anything this tragic in my life” said Scott who is now being hailed as a national hero. Scott will not accept that designation and wants to remind the rest of the country saying, “It’s not over for us. We have a long way to go on this mission".