A local Sailor, assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 8, received numerous awards during a ceremony in the Public Works courtyard Aug. 13, for his heroic actions, which saved a child's life.

Chief (select) Hospital Corpsman Charles Geiger, an independent duty corpsman, was awarded a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, an American Red Cross (ARC) life-saving award, and a plaque from the Seabees, for saving a child's life in Sanlcar de Barrameda the evening of July 20.

"We're here today to honor Chief Select Geiger for the indelible impact he has had on the Public Works department and the greater Naval Station Rota family," said Cmdr. Joe Harder, officer in charge, Naval Facilities Engineering Command. "[He] effectively applied his skills and training in a situation that was off base, and somewhat frantic, and ended up saving the life of a child. It's an act where someone responds intuitively with the training and character that they possess. Heroism doesn't require any further description; it's self-evident."

On July 20, Geiger overhead his neighbors calling for assistance and his dogs started barking. He ran across the street and discovered his neighbor's 2-year-old child was unconscious and not breathing. He assessed the situation and gave the child cardiopulmonary resuscitation until the child started breathing and his pulse came back.

Rota's ARC was on hand for the ceremony and presented Geiger with a Life
Saver award.

"The reason the Red Cross wanted to participate today is to thank [Mr.] Geiger for two things," said Jon Glenn, Rota's ARC station manager. "The first is the action he took that day. That speaks for itself. The second thing is just as important as the first. It's the example he sets for the community; that getting trained for a few hours one day is going to equip you with the ability to save the life of a stranger, friend or family member. Seeing this applied in our community is tragic, but at the same time, demonstrates the value of this skillset and hopefully the rest of our community can follow in the footsteps of this individual and get trained and prepared to save one of our fellow community members in the future if that responsibility falls on them."

Before accepting the awards, Geiger attributed his heroic achievement to muscle memory and Navy training.

"It's very humbling," he saidr. "To be honest I wasn't even really thinking. When I ran around the house, I didn't know what I was going to see. It took about five minutes until I realized in my mind what was actually happening. I'm glad I was there, and I'm glad everything turned out well."

For more news from Naval Station Rota, Spain, visit www.navy.mil/local/rota/