In east Africa, seven and a half thousand miles from the college’s campus, a Hillsdale grad helped to save a life.
Staff Sgt. Colin Sudds `06, is currently serving with the 415th Civil Affairs Battalion at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti as a medic. On Oct. 12, he and eight other soldiers administered medical aid to a Djiboutian man pinned underneath an overturned truck.
“He told me the day after it happened, and he was very excited. It was his first actual experience using his training. He’s been training for it for a while,” said Lecturer of Sociology Abigail Sudds, Colin Sudds’ wife. “I thought it was pretty impressive. I’m proud of him. He’s doing what he loves to do.”
According to the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa press release, the eight members of the battalion were returning from a trip to a local village when they saw a crowd of people around a man underneath a truck. The group saw no emergency response team in the area, so they began to assist the injured man.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Sudds said in the press release. “There was a lot of blood, and I was initially thinking, ‘Where was the blood coming from?’ I knew I had to try and stop the bleeding.”
With the help of another villager, the team was able to lift the truck off the pinned man and stabilized him before handing him off to Djiboutian emergency services.
“Besides the fact that it’s way cool, I’m not really surprised that Colin would perform that well,” said Professor of Philosophy Peter Blum, Sudds’ father-in-law.
Sudds graduated from Hillsdale in 2006, having studied sociology and biology.
“I knew Colin as a student, and he has always been this person where if he gets set on something, then watch out,” Blum said. “He’s the kind of person that when someone says, ‘Here’s what needs to happen,’ it’s going to happen.”
Sudds joined the army just after graduation, and served his first deployment in Iraq in 2008. His service in Djibouti is his second deployment.
“I think he takes seriously the importance for others the stuff he’s learning as a medic,” Blum said. “He’s aware of the kind of assistance he can give. I think there’s this strong feeling that he wants to be engaged in an action that makes a difference in the world.”
Blum said the experience of having a family member serving in the military is a novel one.
“It’s an interesting experience for Gail and I, having a son-in-law doing the things he does,” Blum said. “We’re Mennonites, so it’s not something we’ve experienced before, but we genuinely admire the risks he’s willing to take for others.”
Sudds’ deployment in Djibouti is set to end in January of 2014.
“I’m ready to have him home,” Blum said. “We do miss him. It’s not long, though.”
