By Jeff Schogol, Staff writer6:20 p.m. EDT October 19, 2015ย ย ย ย (Air Force Times)
Air Force special operators are mourning the loss of Tech. Sgt. Nathan Schmidt, a pararescue airman who was killed in a recreational skydiving accident Sunday in California.
Details about the accident were not immediately available Monday. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident, said 1st Lt. Roderick Bersamina, a spokesman for the California Air National Guardโs 129th Rescue Wing.
Schmidt was assigned to the 131st Rescue Squadron at Moffett Federal Airfield, California.
An officer with the squadron described Schmidt as โalways calm, cool and collected during the most chaotic times.โ
โHe was highly respected by every single PJ and combat rescue officer,โ a captain and combat rescue officer who identified himself only by his first name, Tristan, due to security concerns.
Tristan deployed toย Afghanistan twice with Schmidt.ย When the circumstances were most dire, Schmidt was always sharp and “100ย percent dependable,” Tristan told Air Force Times on Monday.
โHe was your go-to guy if you had something that was complex or difficult โ you knew he could do it,โ Tristan said.
Schmidt and other airmen with the wing were photographed with President Obama in May 2014 when Obama visited Moffett to honor the wing for rescuing 1,007 people. While deployed to Helmand province, Afghanistan, in 2013, one of his teammates took aย Civil War tintype of Schmidtย and other members of the rescue squadron.
โHe was able to make split-second decisions that were always correct,โ said a tech sergeantย who served with Schmidt.
For the squadronโs 1,001th rescue, Schmidt went to the aid of a Marine who was trapped at the bottom of a well in Afghanistan, the tech sergeant, who identified himself as Jacob, said. The young Marine had been trapped for about half an hour and was suffering from a broken femur and dislocated shoulder and other serious injuries.
โHe was really pretty scared, but Nate went down 70 feet into this dark, dark well and hooked the guy up with pain meds and then gave him a pep talk about: ย โHey, this is gonna hurt but weโre going to get you to my team up above and Iโll be following you later.โ โ
The team was able to extract the injured the Marine within an hour due to Schmidtโs ability to operate quickly, Jacob said. ย Schmidt had to sit at the bottom of the well for another 30 minutes as the team tended to the Marine.
โHe was like PJโs PJ,โ Jacob said. โIf he kept going, he could have been a chief.”
