SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- Deployed to Iraq, you’re walking to the dining facility for a midnight meal. It’s dark and you’re chatting with your friends. Off in the distance, you see a C-130 cargo plane coming in for landing when something goes wrong. The plane crashes, the main landing gear is ripped off, an explosion is heard and the plane becomes engulfed in flames. What do you do?
For Senior Airman Deanna Robinson there was no question of what to do.
For her heroic actions involving voluntary risk of her own life Dec. 30, 2004, while deployed to Quayyarah West, Iraq, located in northern Iraq near Mosul, she was presented the Airman’s Medal at Fort Stewart, Ga. June 16.
According to her award citation, without regard for her own safety, she ran to the scene and immediately began helping people out of the [burning] aircraft and administering aid to the wounded.
“I heard Air Force crewmembers say there were still passengers in the cargo hold and that was that. It made immediate sense to me to do whatever needed to be done or rather whatever I could do to help get them away from the fire and the other associated dangers. I just started acting,” Ms. Robinson said.
She describes her actions as something “anyone else in her shoes would have done.”
Being a small person, it was easy for her to access the damaged cargo hold and help drag the injured out of the aircraft.
Discovering there were five people still unaccounted for, Airman Robinson crawled through a wing, and with imminent danger from explosion, she helped locate and remove the missing personnel.
She also noticed the injured troops, who were still in shock, were heavily armed (being security forces) so she said she immediately secured their weapons. She had just completed Army Combat Life Saver training which helped her treat those injured from the crash.
“The Army CLS training allowed me to confidently treat the soldiers before they were transported by (medical evacuation) helicopters to the Corps Area Support Hospital. I had the training, ability and opportunity to help out fellow service members and I was lucky to have been able to put it all to use,” Ms. Robinson said.
When she first heard she would be receiving this award she wasn’t sure she deserved it. “My initial feelings were that I really didn’t deserve this -- I was doing what at least 5-10 other (military members) were doing as well. After I gave it a little more thought, I realized that I should feel very proud and honored to be recognized and hopefully share some of the recognition with others who acted bravely that night,” Ms. Robinson said.
Her courage in the face of extreme danger directly saved the lives of nearly a dozen people, according to her citation.
“Deanna’s actions and heroism epitomize our core value of service before self. Her quick thinking and total disregard for her own safety resulted in saving the lives of fellow Airmen. At only 100 pounds in body weight, her ability to drag grown men with a full combat load through the wreckage of a burning, smoke-filled, aircraft is an inspiration to us all,” said Lt. Col. Greg Myers, 15th Air Support Operations Squadron commander.
Ms. Robinson has since separated from the Air Force and still works as a meteorologist in a civilian capacity at a Navy training wing on Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas.
“I definitely enjoyed my time in the Air Force. Some of the things I miss the most about the service are the sense of camaraderie -- the built in social support system and the travel and opportunities to constantly learn and use new skills,” Ms. Robinson said.