Air Force medic honored for saving man’s life
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)-- An active-duty Air Force member was recognized today for taking swift, lifesaving action during a medical emergency at the United States Air Force Academy Prep School.
Jayseph Compton, an Aerospace Medical Technician, is receiving the American Red Cross Lifesaving Award for Professional Responders, one of the organization’s highest honors, after helping save a man’s life during a fitness test on Nov. 19, 2025.
Compton recalls this as a normal workday until a man approached him, saying he was looking for an EMT because his friend had fallen while playing pickleball.
Compton says he immediately knew something was wrong.
“As I kept getting closer… he was just blue,” Compton said.
The man was unresponsive, not breathing, and had no pulse.
“I ripped his shirt off… there’s just absolutely nothing going on in there. I said—Oh my God, this is real life,” he said.
Compton quickly sprang into action, checking for vital signs, directing bystanders to call 911 and retrieve an automated external defibrillator (AED), and beginning CPR.
“I immediately hop on the compression,” he said.
What followed was intense and something Compton says he won’t forget.
“Third, just everything started to break. Just crack, crack, crack… I could feel it in my palms,” he said.
Despite the physical toll, Compton continued performing chest compressions while coordinating others to assist with rescue breaths and AED checks. He says those efforts lasted for nearly 30 minutes until emergency crews arrived.
At one point, after a shock was delivered from the AED, the man began to respond.
“As we were doing compressions after the shock was delivered… he definitely came back to life,” Compton said.
“He kept making these weird breath noises.”
It wasn’t until afterward that the weight of the moment set in.
“I felt like I was just working… but after I was like, man… that was amazing,” he said.
For his actions, Compton has been awarded the American Red Cross Lifesaving Award for Professional Responders, the organization's highest honor for individuals who save or sustain a life using Red Cross training.
According to the Red Cross, the award recognizes “selfless and humane action using lifesaving skills” and represents the highest level of care one person can show another in an emergency.
Compton credits his training for preparing him to act without hesitation.
The man he helped save was not at the award ceremony, but Compton says the two have remained in contact.
“He actually called me,” Compton said. “We’ve been in touch since that day.”
A moment that began as a routine workout ending with a life saved, and a connection that continues beyond it.
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