It was Petty Officer Scott Ruskan’s first deployment as a rescue swimmer with the U.S. Coast Guard.
At just 26 years old, he was a newcomer to the service, having recently transitioned from a career in accounting.
Roughly six months had passed since he completed rescue swimmer training when his team received an urgent call early Friday morning from Task Force 1, a local search-and-rescue group in Texas.
Severe flooding had devastated central Texas over the July Fourth weekend, leaving dozens dead and many others unaccounted for.