US Coast Guard rescue swimmer hailed as a hero after saving 165 kids from Texas flooding
It was Petty Officer Scott Ruskan’s first mission as a US Coast Guard rescue swimmer.The 26-year-old was new to the Coast Guard. He had left a previous career as an accountant before enlisting, and had graduated from rescue swimming school around six months ago when his team got the call from Task Force 1, a local search-and-rescue team in Texas, early Friday morning.
They were needed urgently in central Texas where torrential flooding had struck over the July Fourth weekend. Dozens of people were dead, and more were missing.
Ruskan says the magnitude of his effort has just started to sink in. The rescue swimmer has been hailed as an “American hero” by the Department of Homeland Security. The agency lauded the “extraordinary bravery and selfless service of Ruskan and his fellow first responders.” But he said the other counselors who helped rescue efforts and the tough kids were also heroes.
Seeing how bravely they acted, he said, “it made me a better rescuer.”