Family matters -- One couple, two emergencies, same response

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Leo Brown
  • 442nd Fighter Wing public affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  A husband and wife from the 442nd Maintenance Group proved they can step up in a crisis after separate, chance encounters that tested their mettle and required them to put their lifesaving skills to use - skills they learned partially from careers in the Air Force Reserve.

Matt and Linda Jobe, of Dunnegan, are pretty unassuming. Matt is an air reserve technician with the 442nd Fighter Wing, and Linda is a pre-school teacher and a traditional reservist. After they met in 2000, they married in 2003.

Over the last fourteen months, though, fate put them in situations where they literally stepped out from a crowd to help fellow human beings who were victims of car accidents.

The Jobes said they drew heavily on their military and civilian first-aid training to help the victims. They also said they were shocked that while many people stopped at each scene, few helped.

Linda, a master sergeant and the non-commissioned officer in charge of the 442nd Maintenance Group's orderly room, came across a wreck June 16 near Whiteman Air Force Base. The accident claimed the life of one person and seriously injured two others, one of whom Linda aided.

Jobe said she approached the stop sign at Highways D and 23 when she saw a red mini-van crash nose-first in a ditch. She pulled her car off the road, called 911 and then began aiding the front seat passenger, a woman whose right foot was nearly severed.

"You just do what you're able to do," Linda said. "Don't just stand there and watch. I just kind of kicked into what training I've had. I'm a pre-school teacher, so I take a lot of first-aid training and all I could think about was the different steps I needed to take - stop the bleeding, keep her from going into shock. Don't take your training lightly, because you never know when you're going to need it.

"The most disturbing thing was the conversation with her," she said. "I knew I needed to keep her talking. I was just trying to keep her mind off what had happened. She just kept saying, 'Where did the road go? Where did the road go?'"

The woman's husband had been driving and her sister was in the back of the van. A small dog was also in the back. They were on a leisurely drive, spending time together, as the husband would soon be starting treatment for cancer.

While emergency responders showed up, Linda continued to focus on the front-seat passenger.

"She was asking what happened to her dog, what happened to her sister," she said. "I heard a guy say 'We got nothing,' as he was working on her sister. So that conversation goes through my mind.

"I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything," she said. "First, she lost her dog. Then we told her her sister was dead. Her husband was in pretty bad shape. And her foot - the skin was the only thing holding it in place. It was bent out to the right. I just kept talking to her. I lost a lot of sleep going through those conversations."

On October 3, 2006, Matt and a friend, Eric Beeler of Humansville, came across a vehicle that was upside down in a creek near Slater on Highway 240.

"A lot of people had stopped, but no one was doing anything," said Matt, a staff sergeant and the 442nd Maintenance Operations Flight maintenance support liaison technician. "A lady told us (the driver of the upside down vehicle) was still in the car, so another guy and I swam out to the car - it was about 20 feet out and the water was about chest level.

"You could see the tires sticking out the water, and we reached in through all the windows but couldn't find her," he said. "We were trying to drag everything out of the car and then we got a hold of something that didn't move."

That "something" was the driver. She wasn't seat-belted in and they eventually pulled her from the car. Once ashore, the two men continued their life-saving efforts.

"She was full of water, so we were pushing on her belly and then we finally started CPR," said Matt, who also noted he has worked as an emergency medical technician.

"I don't understand why you wouldn't help," Matt said. "If it was me, I'd want someone to help me and not just look. I just couldn't believe all the people standing there. One of my first thoughts was, 'How come all these people are standing around?'"

"That doesn't make sense to me," Linda said. "When I stopped, I dialed 911 as I was running across the road. I didn't really think about not doing something.''

Since she was performing military duties at the time of the accident, Sergeant Linda Jobe was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal for a courageous act Sept. 8 in front of the entire 442nd Fighter Wing during a wing commander's call.

"I had to do the Heimlich maneuver on my dad in a restaurant and it was the same thing - everybody just sat there and watched," she said. "You just kick in to what you've been trained to do. After hearing it so many times, things stick."

The Jobes have had limited contact with the wreck victims' families, but the people they helped have not been far from their minds.

"I've thought about her," Linda said. "I just wonder how she's doing. I've talked to her other sister, who lives in Kansas, on the phone."

While the person Matt helped unfortunately passed away, he said his efforts brought her family peace of mind.

"Her mom thanked us," he said. "We called and checked on her daughter. Her brother was deployed to Iraq with the Army. They let him come home (after the accident). She lived to spend her last days with her family and they had some time to think about everything and say good-by to her.

"I never spoke to her brother, but I got a thank you card from him," he said. "He wrote about what a big deal people make about him being in the military and being a hero. He wrote a really nice note and said we were his heroes."