Military chaplains are often credited with saving lives, and most of the time it’s a spiritual life that is saved.
For one Air Guard chaplain, Father Mike Martinez of the Diocese of Tucson, a recent hunting trip turned into a different kind of rescue operation.
When Father (Maj.) Mike went hunting in early November, he didn’t take a deer’s life but instead helped save a human life.
Chaplain Mike was mule deer hunting in the Gallero Mountains, just north of Willcox and west of Safford, with his brother David and his father Ralph. They had an uneventful few days when – as poet Robert Frost might have said – the chaplain took a road less traveled and made all the difference.
In the early morning of Nov. 2, Ralph Martinez found a man in distress.
“We were just about ready to go up this road and at the last second my dad decided that we should go down a different road,” said Chaplain Mike.
Ralph’s decision more than likely saved the life of Henry Alvarado, who was spotted under a juniper tree.
“This guy was kind of passed out and somewhat incoherent,” said Chaplain Mike. “My dad started talking to him and learned that his son Leonard was in the area hunting as well.”
Said Alvarado:
“I recall thinking there is something wrong with me, and I need to get back to camp. I just kept falling to my knees, blacking out.”
At this point Chaplain Mike was about 400 yards away, communicating via radio. Chaplain Mike was instructed to find Alvarado’s son Leonard, which he quickly did.
Once all the men were together they realized they knew each other. “My brother David played sports with Leonard, and my dad and Henry knew each other from Safford,” the chaplain said.
Working together, they tried to load Henry on an all-terrain vehicle to return to camp, where Leonard could then drive his dad to the hospital. But the situation quickly got worse.
“We had just started moving on the quads when Henry began feeling nauseous; we had to stop and the next thing I knew he was throwing up blood… He also had blood running out of his nose,” Chaplain Mike said, and his eyes were rolling to the back of his head.
Said Henry: “It felt like my insides were coming out.”
Chaplain Mike’s training took over and he provided life-saving care.
“I remember thinking back to all my self-aid and buddy-care training, just remembering let’s make sure he has a good airway, get his breathing going.”
And Chaplain Mike prayed.
“The Lord was definitely with me that day,” said Henry Alvarado.
At the same time Chaplain Mike’s brother David was in contact with the Graham County Sheriff’s Department ordered a medical evacuation helicopter. He climbed to the top of a ridge to receive cell phone service, relaying what was happening.
Less than 20 minutes later a helicopter landed on the ridge and transported Henry Alvarado to Tucson Medical Center.
“Another 20 minutes and I would have bled out and died,” said Alvarado.
It was later determined that he had lesions on his liver that ruptured, causing internal bleeding.
“I owe my life to those guys,” said Alvarado. “I am very fortunate.”
Taking that road less traveled, said Chaplain Mike, meant that he was exactly where he needed to be.
—
Capt. Dan Dodson is with the 162nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson. This article is adapted from one that appeared originally in the base newspaper, “Desert Lightning News.”
