Technical Sergeant Jason Weiss: Independent-Duty Medical Technician 

In December ‘07, Technical Sergeant Jason Weiss’ eyes narrowed and his smile disappeared as he threw open the door of the hovering UH-1N Huey. A frigid mix of wind, rain and snow sucked the warmth out of the helicopter.

Sergeant Weiss scoured the vast snowy landscape of the tree-lined mountains in the Snoqualmie Pass, 45 minutes outside Seattle, Washington. As a search and rescue crew member, he was looking for a lone, injured 38-year-old Mark Thompson. Mr. Thompson had been stranded in the mountains for more than two days after being swept up in an avalanche, which fractured both bones in his lower left leg. Mr. Thompson’s wife and best friend perished in the avalanche. When the team spotted the injured hiker, they lowered Sergeant Weiss to the ground, roughly 80 yards from the victim. Once released from the hoist, Sergeant Weiss sank to his chest in the snow. “I had to crab crawl for about 40 yards so I wouldn’t sink in the snow. When I got to the victim, he was hungry, dehydrated and nearing hypothermia,” Sergeant Weiss explained.

Making matters worse, the helicopter was running low on fuel and a blizzard was brewing. The sergeant slung the 176-pound hiker over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. He trudged through the waist-deep snow toward the extraction point. With his legs and lungs burning, Sergeant Weiss pulled Mr. Thompson by the hood of his jacket for the last 40 yards.

Once in the helicopter, Sergeant Weiss tended to the victim as they airlifted him to definitive medical care.