Soldiers Who Responded To Fort Stewart Shooting Speak With Reporters

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5 months ago

Soldiers who responded to the shooting at Fort Stewart in Georgia on Wednesday spoke with the press on Thursday.

Transcript

00:00Okay, so I'm going to introduce you to some, actually I'm going to have them introduce themselves,

00:06some very special soldiers. You got to see them be recognized by the Secretary of the Army,

00:11as well as, you know, just demonstrating their heroism and bravery from the events that led

00:17yesterday. So I'm going to start with Colonel Sanford. He's going to introduce himself and

00:21we'll go down the line. If you could all step to the center podium, because that's where all

00:26the mics are concentrated. That's the only way we'll be able to hear you.

00:30And then we'll start with you. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Mike Sanford. I'm the battalion commander

00:35for 703rd Brigade Support Battalion. I'm Staff Sergeant Taylor. I'm the career counselor

00:41for 703rd Brigade Support Battalion. I'm 1st Sergeant Joshua Arnold. I'm the 1st Sergeant

00:46Revival Company, 703rd. And that's a unit within the 2nd Arbor Brigade Combat Team.

00:53And we're going to go ahead and open up for questions.

00:56So kind of take us through, I don't know who, which of you want to answer this first,

01:02but kind of take us through what you first heard and what you first did yesterday.

01:08We heard what's on the gunshots. We had immediately had medical services, combat medics, myself,

01:18and Sergeant Taylor to respond. We already obeyed those individuals. And shortly after EMS arrived,

01:25we continued their jobs.

01:29What went through your head when you realized that there was an actual shooting happening in your workplace?

01:35Just conduct training. It's our training. It kicked in. Mine kicked in. And you just go to work.

01:40Have you processed what's happened here?

01:44Yep, of course. Friends were shot. Bad things happened. And I'm going to continue to take care of my soldiers.

01:52And we'll continue to move forward.

01:54How difficult was it for y'all to render aid to your brothers and sisters that were shot by another one of your brothers?

02:01How much more difficult was that?

02:03You don't really kind of process that at that moment. You just take care of the people that you see or age with.

02:07When you heard the gunshots, did you immediately think this is bad?

02:12Or were you thinking, is somebody out on the training bench?

02:15Because the fireman was a very close fighter. When did you sense this is bad?

02:21Really didn't process that it was a gunshot at first.

02:25And then it took a moment to kick in that that was a gunshot. That was a gunshot.

02:28And I started yelling through the hallways, that it was a gunshot.

02:33Please, I'll share. If you don't mind, each of you two, we would like you to jump in.

02:37And if you just, we're trying to get a sense for what this sounded like, what this felt like.

02:43When you heard the shots the first time, can you give me your, first of all, gut reactions?

02:48And I know you guys are trained to react. So walk us through that process for us, if you don't mind.

02:52So I wasn't actually on the scene.

02:56I got a call from my Command Sergeant Major, Command Sergeant Major Alvarado.

03:00I was here at the headquarters.

03:02And I immediately ran over to the cop, or to the building where my companies were.

03:06What I can describe to you, when I got on the scene, I saw individuals doing triage, you know, triaging patients and things like that.

03:18As a commander of this unit, I'm incredibly proud to see everybody come together.

03:27You know, I talk about three things every single day when I'm in front of the formation, teamwork, winning, and trust.

03:32The teamwork that I saw yesterday made me proud as a commander.

03:39I saw Staff Sergeant Taylor, who's my retention NCO.

03:44Totally different job.

03:46But she immediately rendered a, I saw First Sergeant Arnold running around, directing traffic, doing the things that he did.

03:55So for me, as a commander, I'm very proud of you, so.

03:59Commander, do you know the suspect?

04:01Yes.

04:02Were there any warning signs or any behavioral issues that you noticed?

04:06No, at this time.

04:08Staff Sergeant Taylor, what made you jump into action?

04:12So I was in my office, which was at the opposite end of the building, and I was just checking my email when I started.

04:18I heard First Sergeant Arnold yelling that there was a gunshot that went off.

04:23I didn't personally hear the gunshot, but I heard him yelling, and so I hopped out to the hallway to see what was going on,

04:30and I heard him yelling about there being smoke, and I saw the smoke in the hallway, and I noticed there was a soldier laying on the ground.

04:37So I immediately sprinted over to the soldier and started rendering aid.

04:42He had been shot.

04:43So I was rendering aid to him while First Sergeant started calling for medics.

04:50So were you scared?

04:53Not at that time.

04:54I believe we had adrenaline, and I previously was a combat medic for seven years, and I've worked in MS for the county before,

05:01so I have been in these type of situations before, where I've had to render aid to someone with gunshot wounds.

05:08So I had a little bit of experience, I believe, helped get me through that situation.

05:12Was it different knowing that it was Sergeant Radford, one of your guys' coworkers?

05:16I think it's too soon in the situation to really process all of that.

05:24We're going to take maybe one or two more questions with them, so we've got to move on.

05:28Commander, you train these soldiers to prepare for battle, to fight enemies or the seas,

05:33and here they are fighting against them right here as they're training.

05:39How do you process that?

05:42It's tough, but I'm just happy to know that the training that they got, you know, they went into action.

05:53And it's really, it's a battle trip, and they went into action and did what they needed to do.

05:58So whether it's here or, you know, overseas or if we're in combat, they did the right thing.

06:06But yes, it's tough, but you never want to have that happen as a commander.

06:11But like I said, I'm incredibly proud of them.

06:13Okay, final question.

06:15When y'all got home for the day and were able to get back with your families,

06:18did you hug them a little tighter last night?

06:23Did you hug them a little bit?

06:25Absolutely.

06:26I made my kids' favorite dinner, and we had dinner.

06:32Thank y'all so much.

06:33Okay, thank you so much.

Soldiers Who Responded To Fort Stewart Shooting Speak With Reporters

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