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June 7 is a date Sgt. Rafael Matos will remember for a long time. He was driving on the Autobahn toward Nuremburg on his way home after a battle assembly weekend with his Reserve unit, the 7th Civil Support Command, when he came upon an accident.
“Traffic was backed up, and there was a BMW on the shoulder blocking traffic,” said Sergeant Matos, a human resources non-commissioned officer with the 7th CSC’s Headquarters and Headquarters Company.
On-lookers continued to pass, and the vehicle stood in a precarious situation when Sergeant Matos came upon it. Faced with the decision to stop and help or to keep driving, Sergeant Matos acted quickly.
“I didn’t see anyone else there so I pulled over to the side and I went across the street,” said Sergeant Matos, a native of Puerto Rico.
Inside the vehicle, Sergeant Matos discovered a family of four. The two children and two parents were unharmed but too frightened and disoriented to leave the vehicle on their own. Another motorist had also stopped to help, and he and Sergeant Matos communicated to the family that they needed to move.
“I took off my ACU top to cover the baby and told them to go wait in my car,” he said.
The wail of German emergency vehicle sirens could soon be heard as the Polizei responded to the situation. After some questioning from the officials and “Thanks” from the family, Sergeant Matos was back on his way.
Sergeant Matos said he didn’t really have to think twice about stopping to help. He knew what he had to do because this wasn’t his first time dealing with an accident on the Autobahn. Last time, though, he was on the receiving end.
“I was in a real bad crash last year,” he said. “Somebody hit me from the back. Next thing I know, I’m upside-down on the Autobahn.”
His car was rear-ended at high speed, spun out and flipped over. It was totaled, and the military gear he had packed so carefully for the weekend battle assembly was strewn across the highway.
“People were walking up with my boots like ‘This is yours,’” Sergeant Matos said with a laugh. “Even the radio flew out.”
Sergeant Matos said he was lucky because as bad as the accident looked, he was no worse for wear.
“I came out of there without a single scratch. None,” he said.
Sergeant Matos said he owes his life to the seatbelt he wore that day. The accident served as a lesson he won’t soon forget.
“Before, if I was going a short distance, I would say, ‘Well I don’t need a seat belt.’ But now, even if I’m just going a couple blocks I put it on because … I know.”
