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No. 21 Vol. 8
My Life Publications • 1-800-691-7549
August 2025
Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer from Warren County Aids Those Affected by Texas Floods
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By Megan Roche cott Ruskan was on his very first rescue mission flight when he and his team responded to Texas Hill Country in the wake of the flash flooding of the Guadalupe River. Ruskan, who hails from Warren County, joined the Coast Guard in 2021. He completed a swiftwater rescue course just two months prior to the flooding event in Texas. In an interview with CNN on July 7, Ruskan detailed the harrowing rescue efforts. “We originally got a call from Task Force One which is a local agency here in Texas asking for additional resources. They launched us from Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi at about 7 a.m. on the Fourth of July. We battled some weather with the crew on the way in as we were flying through the storm that was causing all the rain,” Ruskan said. Once the group arrived in Kerrville via helicopter, they headed for Camp Mystic. The summer camp was hardest hit by the flooding events and left many dead, including an entire bunk of young girls. “We heard there was about 200 campers there and they were in need of airlift. There was no other way to get them out. Bridges were gone, roadways were gone, and the water was coming up too high for boat rescue. We decided that the best course of action would be to leave me there on the ground to make room for more kids on the helicopter,” Ruskan explained.
Ruskan jumped into a role of triage coordinator at the site and helped to comfort the campers. “It was pretty traumatic…they are having probably the worst day of their life. They are missing friends, they are missing loved ones, they don’t know where they are, some of them may be unaccounted for. It’s a lot of unknowns, cell service was bad, radio reception was bad on my comms, so I really didn’t have any communication with the outside world for about 3 hours. I was really just trying to comfort them and let them know that we were going to get them out and get them to safety,” Ruskan said. Ruskan and his team ultimately led 165 campers to safety. Recognition for Ruskan and his team poured in, including a nod from the Department of Homeland Security Chief. “The extraordinary bravery and selfless service of Ruskan and his fellow first responders embody the very spirit of the United States Coast Guard and the best of what it means to be an American,” the tweet said. With all the recognition, Ruskan says that he was just doing his job. “I’m a rescue professional, this is what the Coast Guard swimmers are known for, just for getting the job done. Any of the rescuers on the scene were doing the exact same thing as me. Everyone was super professional and some of the best men and women I’ve ever worked with.”
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