Sgt. Christopher Brooks, an Army recruiter, has been honored by police for saving a man who was injured and bleeding from a severed artery.
Brooks, who is assigned to the Springfield, Illinois, recruiting center, was leaving a concert with friends in Moline, Illinois, on March 3 when he saw Jon Howard, a man he didn't know, bleeding profusely.
The soldier stopped to help Howard, who had fallen through a plate-glass window, severed an artery and appeared to be going into shock, according to a release from Army Recruiting Command.
"I knew we had to stop the bleeding, or we were going to lose him," Brooks said in the release. "I let the gentleman know that I was in the Army, so I actually knew what I was doing and was trained for emergency medical situations like this, and not just some random stranger jumping in not knowing what to do."
Brooks quickly took Howard's belt and used it as a tourniquet to slow the bleeding.
An ambulance arrived, and Howard was taken to a hospital. He survived, and later spoke to a Davenport, Iowa, television station about Brooks: "He's an amazing man. He saved my life and affected a lot of people's lives. He's just a true American hero."
Brooks was honored by a local police department in May for his actions.
"It's Army training," Brooks said. "When you've done the training over and over and when something like this happens, you don't have time to think -- instinct -- training kicks in."
Brooks had used his training to treat his own injury on a deployment to Afghanistan, when his arm was wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade. He applied a tourniquet and saved his arm, the Army reported.
He and Howard met again at the ceremony when Brooks was honored.
"It's a big relief to see Mr. Howard and know he's OK," Brooks said in the release. "I'm just glad I was there at the right time, right place."
