Fort Cavazos WAQ team responds to paintball predicament

BELTON, Texas - Much like the Soldiers at Fort Cavazos, the Department of the Army civilians at The Great Place are always ready to step up when a need arises - as demonstrated by the Warrior Adventure Quest team while they were facilitating a paintball activity for a unit in May at the Belton Lake Outdoor Recreation Area paintball courses.

WAQ is a free program, strictly for Soldiers to use once a year, designed to mitigate bad behaviors, increase adrenaline and provide opportunities to strengthen unity and cohesion amongst Soldiers through different activities - one of them being paintball.

Ironically, just as the players were beginning the second round of a game called Medic, where paintballers are tasked with shooting the opposing team's "medic," a player slipped in a muddy area and fractured his leg.

With the Soldiers were Samantha "SJ" Schellhorn and Jeffery Davis, recreation assistants with WAQ.

"I ran on top of the situation, noticed that his ankle obviously snapped and that he was lying in water," Schellhorn explained.

Davis said the accident happened just seconds after the paintball game began.

"I turned around to look at SJ, and she was gone down two flights of stairs," he said. "She took off flying through the air - I don't know, but it was pretty fast. I stopped the match. I was a little confused. I didn't know what had happened. All I knew was SJ took off running and someone was on the ground."

Davis quickly ran over to Schellhorn who asked him to call their coworker Emily Caramanian, WAQ/Adventure Programming coordinator, so she could alert emergency services. Unfortunately, Davis had no cell service and couldn't reach Caramanian, so one of the Soldiers ran at least a quarter-of-a-mile to inform her of the situation.

Caramanian called 911 and when she arrived at the scene Schellhorn had already informed the WAQ team's leadership of the situation and Karl Washko, administrative manager at BLORA, was directed to guide the EMS to the paintball courses.

Schellhorn said she and some of the Soldiers carefully moved the injured paintballer from the water to avoid further injury and so she could assess if the player had sustained an open or closed fracture.

"My main concern was, if it was open, of him getting bacteria and stuff in that wound," she said.

Caramanian relayed important information to the EMS who were on their way.

While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, Schellhorn noticed the injured player started shaking because he was holding up his injured leg with the other in an attempt to keep weight off of his injury. Once again, she took action.

"I asked his permission to sit underneath him and take that weight off of his legs to make him feel more comfortable and he granted me that," she said. "So I sat with him until the emergency services arrived."

However, the series of unfortunate events still hadn't completely ended - the ambulance became stuck on its way to the scene due to the muddy conditions. The Soldiers helped to unstick the ambulance while Washko used a work truck to transport the injured Soldier to the ambulance.

Looking back, Schellhorn said her instincts just took over, as she has had training from Fort Riley, Kansas, where she was previously stationed.

"I've dealt with similar situations, medicalwise, so my previous training had kicked in," she said. "Instinct kicks in and you know what you have to do in the moment."

Throughout the duration of the accident the WAQ team made sure to remain calm and also did their best to help keep the Soldiers calm as well.

"I think when they saw that the staff was calm and that (the injured Soldier) was doing OK that it kind of helped to keep them and the mood light," Schellhorn said. "We made sure to crack jokes with them and stuff like that to make it easier for them because I'm sure it was hard on them seeing their fellow Soldier hurt. Emily did make sure to ask the gentleman, to make sure that he still filled out the WAQ survey before he left - cracking a joke."

Their calm and professional response to the accident received a positive ICE comment that earned praise from garrison leadership.

"It's important to note how important our program is - what it does for Soldiers and how deeply our team cares about what we do and how deeply we care about Soldiers," Caramanian said. "That can be reflected in our actions on that day."

Schellhorn agreed, adding, "I'm definitely dedicated, and I love my job."

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