Along for the ride - Airman's World - Brief Article

Airman, Nov, 2001 by Melissa Phillips

F. E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo.- Dressed up in cowboy gear, medics played an eight-second waiting game to see if they need to rescue injured contestants from the rodeo arena.

Every year since the 1940s, a group of medics, called the Cowboy Medics have assembled to provide emergency medical treatment to rodeo contestants at the Frontier Days rodeo in Cheyenne, Wyo.

In July, approximately 70 medics from the 90th Medical Group, the 187th Aeroevacuation Squadron from the Wyoming Air National Guard in Cheyenne, Wyo., and civilians from the community volunteered for the event.

Tech. Sgt. Neil Webb, 90th MDG emergency medical technician, looked up with a grin of disbelief, as a bronco bucked and narrowly missed crushing a downed contestant's foot. "It's a matter of inches," said Webb.

And, it's those few inches that determine whether or not the cowboy medics will provide medical treatment or enjoy the rodeo.

The excitement's one reason medics return year after year, but another is to work with other medical professionals like Rick Foster, a licensed physical therapist, who provided free preliminary medical support and physical therapy to contestants. He's traveled the rodeo circuit from coast to coast, and many times he's the only medical "show" in town.

"Normally, we have one or two military individuals that volunteer at rodeos, but no other base I know of provides such a structured medical support system to contestants," said Foster. "The contestants get treatment from the rodeo floor right up to the hospital with the Cowboy Medics - we couldn't provide proper medical support without them."