Page 8 - DFCS News Magazine Spring 2015

things. Bringloe said: "What steered me towards this is that when stuff goes wrong, my brain seems to pop up and starts working correctly. I like being in tough situations and I just function well when quick decisions need to be made." "Quick decisions," she said. What kind of quick decisions?
Decisions like guiding the air crew onto a roof top surrounded by trees to evacuate three wound- ed Soldiers. Decisions like doing her job while under constant fire. This is why they awarded her the Distinguished Flying Cross It was awarded because she ignored exhaustion, pain, and dis- played ...the knack to keep her cool.
Bringloe's training has not ended. Even with combat, even with the Distinguished Flying Cross a professional builds on what she knows.
Bringloe continues to build upon her medical knowledge and experiences by attending Army medi- cal courses between deployments down-range. She recently finished the flight paramedic "C" course. "I've gotten a lot more out of the Army than I ever imagined."
Recently one of her commanders, Lt. Col. Soo Lee Davis, MS Commander, 187th Battalion said, "Sgt. Bringloe is the epitome of the highly skilled and pro- fessional combat flight medic. She showed an enor- mous of amount of courage and dedication in the op- eration in which she was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. She remains humble and modest to this day, always stating she was just doing her job, a job that the Army trained her to do. She knows the value of a highly skilled first responder. I know it is this awareness that drives her to be the best
combat flight medic, soon to be paramed- ic, she can be."
A new chapter of the DFC Society has been formed in the Pacific Northwest, replacing
the old Northwest Chapter. Several letters have been sent to Society members in the region ask- ing their interest in participating in the Chap- ter. To date we have had an excellent response, but there are still many that have not responded!
We realize that the geographical area is huge - a four drive on a good day from Portland, Oregon to Bellingham, Washington but we going to try a different approach with Chapter meetings.
We will be holding satellite meetings in addition to those held in the Seattle area. The first satel- lite meetings are scheduled for April and May. We intend to have a northern meeting in the Bel- lingham/Whidbey Island area hosted by Al Major (also a member of the national Board of Direc- tors) and a southern area meeting in the Vancou- ver, Washington/Portland, Oregon region. The
southern meeting will be hosted by Dave Clark of Van- couver and member of the 2012 DFC Convention plan- ning committee. These meetings will be in addition to the main meeting being held in Seattle at the Museum of Flight, Boeing Field.
Hopefully this new approach will prove to be effective and based on the results we hope to hold meetings in Eastern Washington as well, taking in members from the Spokane, Tri-Cities, and other locations on the "dry side of the State!" If a member in Eastern Washington is in- terested in helping further the goals of the Society, please give me a call!
We are excited to get this chapter up and running. We have a vast array of aviation associated venues in the Pa- cific Northwest, so we do not lack for things to do. If you are interested in being part of our new chapter, please contact Bill Bradfield, Chapter President at blbradfield@comcast.net or 206-295-2291.
Cont’d Flight Medic DFC
NEWLY FORMED PACIFIC NORTHWEST CHAPTER
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