A U.S. Air Force pararescueman relied on his military training to rescue a man who was badly injured while skiing, according to a statement Friday from Aviano Air Base, Italy.
Senior Airman Sebastian d’Alton, of the 57th Rescue Squadron, was skiing in the Alps on Jan. 17, when he stumbled upon a severely wounded man and intervened quickly to save his life.
D’Alton, a relatively inexperienced skier, was training for an upcoming avalanche, ski and crevasse rescue course at the time of the incident.
He noticed a man in immense pain, lying in the snow, surrounded by an Italian couple trying to console him and offer assistance. D’Alton noticed a significant gash on the man’s leg and – despite never performing an alpine rescue before – sprang into action.
“I started with a basic sweep, just like in training,” he said. “I then checked for any other injuries, controlled the bleeding and stabilized the wound as best as I could with what we had on hand.”
He credited his training with the 57th as a pivotal factor in his success.
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“We do a lot of scenarios that prepare us for moments like this, and once I started assessing the injury, it was almost automatic,” d’Alton said.
D’Alton applied a tourniquet and packed the wound to stop blood loss while the group waited for help to arrive. While the language barrier was an obstacle at times – the injured man was Austrian and the couple was Italian – they found a way to communicate effectively, he said.
D’Alton admitted it’s easy to panic, but that focusing on the step-by-step process allowed him to remain calm in the face of a nerve-racking situation.
A ski patrol finally arrived and transported the injured man off of the mountain. Even though D’Alton’s military training might’ve been the difference between life and death for the skier, he refused to take all the credit.
“It wasn’t just me, it was a team effort,” he said. “Those first two people who stopped made a huge difference, and ski patrol got him out of there quickly. It was just about doing what I was trained to do.”
Riley Ceder is a reporter at Military Times, where he covers breaking news, criminal justice, investigations, and cyber. He previously worked as an investigative practicum student at The Washington Post, where he contributed to the Abused by the Badge investigation.
