Published: July 17, 2008 01:50 am            

SPAINHOUR: How quickly life can change

On May 28, my son Bo and I, along with six other conservation officers from our district received life-saving awards from the director of the Department of Natural Resources.

On Aug. 9, 2007, Bo and I were driving through a neighborhood in Clarksville when we saw a man lying next to his vehicle in 98-degree heat. Bo and I decided to stop and check on the man. He was soaking wet from sweat and was disoriented.

We called for emergency medical technicians, and moved the gentleman to a shady area to prevent anymore dehydration. As Bo stayed with the man, I tried to locate family members. We later found out the man had been there approximately 35 to 40 minutes and wouldn’t have lasted much longer. I felt great knowing that Bo and I had saved a person from possible death.

I would also like to mention a fellow officer by the name of Nate Berry, who is a five-year veteran. He received a life-saving award the same day due to his efforts during flooding in northern Jackson County. He and his partner rescued six people off a roof of a car.

I mentioned Nate Berry because on June 9 at approximately 12:30 a.m., our lives changed forever. Nate and I went from being the people who rescue victims to being the victims ourselves.

Our day started out anything but normal on that Sunday. I had just gotten off work at 12:30 p.m. on June 8 from working 21 straight hours in Columbus on the flooding in that city, and Nate had worked 20 1/2 hours in Martinsville. He got off at 4:30 on Sunday morning.

We went back to work at 7 that evening, meeting at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, where our command post would be as the flood waters had reached Jackson County. We met Sergeant Schuetter and officers Frank Routh, Chad Mills, Cora Showalter, Gary Pennington, Jim Hash, Jason Lee and Brent Bohbrink to get our instructions for the night.

All the officers were assigned to areas in southern Jackson County to assist any people who needed rescued or evacuated. Nate and I were at the sheriff’s department when they received a 911 hang-up call from a residence in the northern part of the county, which was a heavily-flooded area. This area was the same area where Nate and Phil had rescued the six people I talked about earlier.

The sheriff’s department tried numerous times to try and call the number back, but never got a response. Nate and I headed to the area to assess the situation and arrived at approximately 11:30 p.m. It was a beautiful night with the stars out and a crescent moon that slightly lit up the 1,000-plus acres of flooded farmland.

In the distance, we could see security lights that were next to houses and with maps and Nate’s knowledge of the land we set out to locate the house with the 911 call.

We launched our new $70,000 airboat, in which Nate is one of our operators, and headed north on our trek through swift muddy waters. While Nate was operating the boat, I was using the spotlight to look for dangerous obstacles in the water.

During the estimated one- to 1 1/2-mile trip, we saw an island about 30 yards long and 10 yards wide that had several sets of eyes.

We made our way to the island where we noticed three coyote pups and their mother. The pups were trying to hide in the weeds, but the mother jumped in the swift water and headed downstream. Nate maneuvered the boat to force the coyote to go back to the island to be with her young.

We then proceeded to the north to a house which ended up being the one where the 911 call came from. The owner of the house was Tony Machen.

He came out and we asked if everything was all right and he replied “yes, everything is fine.” We explained why we were there and we figured out that it was his computer that had made the 911 call due to a malfunction.

We noticed he had an airboat of his own, which is uncommon. We told him we were going to check on a retired conservation officer by the name of Bill Aufenberg and his wife, and if he knew exactly where he lived and he pointed us to some trees in the skyline. He told us to be careful and that it was very dangerous conditions and we said thanks and that we appreciated it.

We made it to Bill and his wife’s house and checked on them to see if they needed anything. Other than being stranded they were fine, so we said goodbye and started back to our truck.

This is where our lives changed forever.

Around 150 yards south of Bill’s house, Nate turned the boat to the right and I guess with the combination of swift current and a slight wind, our right-front corner started taking on water. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as the boat started to roll over.

Before I knew it, I was in the swift current. When I came up, I could see Nate next to the boat that was now upside down. He yelled that he was caught on the boat.

Then I saw the worst thing in my 25-year career. Nate went under and out of sight.

I tried to swim toward him to help, but the current was too strong, taking me downstream. I tried again to no avail.

I was helpless against Mother Nature. Even with our water vests on, I thought Nate had just drowned. I have never felt as powerless in all the years on the job as I did then. As I was being swept downstream and out of sight of the boat, I heard Nate yell my name. I yelled back to him in the darkness.

At that point, I felt a sense of relief knowing Nate had a good chance of surviving if he stayed with the boat. My focus then switched to me trying to survive. I tried unsuccessfully several times trying to grab anything I could see. As conservation officers, we are trained in swift water survival and my training kicked in.

I was exhausted from trying to get back to the boat, so I did as I was trained and rolled over on my back, toes up and tried to ride the current. In a short period of time, a lot of things run through your mind.

I thought I probably wouldn’t see my wife Shelli, son Bo or daughter Alex again. I thought about if they knew how much I loved them.

Another thing I started thinking about was all the trees and the island we had passed. I was even hoping to find the island with the coyotes so I could share it with them.

As I was looking for anything to grab, I heard Nate one more time. He swam up to me in the darkness. I found out later Nate had been yelling my name as he was trying to find me, but I had never heard him. Nate thought that I was dead when he couldn’t hear me or see me.

For Nate to leave the boat to look for me in the conditions we were in shows a lot of character. Once together, we could then try to find a way out of this mess. Nate asked me if I had my gun belt on and I said “yes.” So he asked me if I had my radio, which I pulled out fully expecting it not to work.

Surprisingly, the Motorola was working after the entire time that it had been submerged under water. We called for assistance to our other officers who said they knew immediately from my voice we were in deep trouble. Nate gave them directions to our location in the water.

I then felt something I didn’t believe that I would feel — land.

Nate is 6-foot-4 and I’m 5-10, so when I felt the land, I told him. But he had already known and was standing on it.

We were in current, not strong enough to take us downstream, as long as we dug our toes in the mud and leaned into the current.

With a little bit of stability, we were able to look around to try to get help. We looked to the west and saw Mr. Machen, who we had checked on earlier, firing up his airboat. It was a welcome sound to hear the airboat.

I reached down to my gun belt and got my sure fire light, which also worked and began to shine it in the direction of Mr. Machen’s boat. Mr. Machen was able to find us by seeing our light and he rescued us from the flooded waters.

He took us to Bill’s house where we waited 2 1/2 hours for our fellow officers to come and get us.

Both Bill and Mr. Machen had heard our airboat wreck. Mr. Machen was in bed at the time of the accident, but told his wife he thought the sound he heard was not a good sound.

He didn’t have to come out in the treacherous waters to see if we had wrecked. But he did and I thank God every day that he did.

Nate and I definitely think Mr. Machen is a hero for risking his life to save ours. Bill and Barbara were shaken, but gave us towels, drinks, and a place to rest until the officers arrived. When all the officers got to us, each one gave us a hug and told us how hard it was for them to get to us because of the amount of land being flooded.

It’s great to work for a department where the officers genuinely care about one another and would risk their own lives to rescue their fellow partners.

All the officers said to us they were coming to get us no matter what they had to go through.

After everything that has happened, I’ve realized that you can’t take anything for granted.

If I had any advice to give after my accident, it would be to tell your family daily how much you love and appreciate them.

Live every day as it’s your last.

Be safe and enjoy life because I know I will.

Mac Spainhour is an Indiana conservation officer and a Clarksville High School graduate. Contact him at mspainhour820@insightbb.com.

        

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