Petty Officer 3rd Class Scott Ruskan only needed one mission to become a real-life superhero.
Ruskan, a Rider University graduate and Coast Guard rescue swimmer, has been credited with helping 165 people, mostly kids from Camp Mystic, reach safety after devastating flooding swept through central Texas on the Fourth of July.
“This was my first experience, but I really relied on the training we get,” Ruskan said in an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America. “Coast Guard rescue swimmers get some of the highest-level training in the world. Really relied on that and knowing that any of the rescue swimmers in the Coast Guard would have done the same exact same if not better.”
Ruskan was stationed at US Coast Guard Station Corpus Christi, about 210 miles from Kerrville in Central Texas, where the Guadalupe River overran its banks after unprecedented rainfall. He said it took nearly six additional hours to reach the flood zone because of the weather and once the Coast Guard got boots on the ground, he realized he was the only certified rescue swimmer on scene at Camp Mystic.
“I had about 200 kids all scared and terrified, cold, probably having the worst day of their life,” Ruskan said. “I just had to triage them and get them to a higher-level care.”
The raging flash floods — among the nation’s worst in decades — slammed into riverside camps and homes before daybreak Friday, pulling sleeping people out of their cabins, tents and trailers and dragging them for miles past floating tree trunks and automobiles. Some survivors were found clinging to trees.
Operators of Camp Mystic, the century-old summer camp, said they lost 27 campers and counselors.
“United States Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer and Petty Officer Scott [Ruskan], directly saved an astonishing 165 victims in the devastating flooding in central Texas,” wrote Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem in an X post.
“This was the first rescue mission of his career and he was the only triage coordinator at the scene. Scott [Ruskan] is an American hero. His selfless courage embodies the spirit and mission of the @USCG.”
Ruskan said first responders established two different landing zones on higher ground for military helicopters — a nearby archery field and soccer pitch — and he was the “main guy grabbing people.”
“Maybe 10-15 kids at a time and one adult with them and bringing them over to those [helicopters] and getting them over to a different LZ [landing zone] that was kind of safe and more first responders were over there.”
Scott Ruskan, a 2021 graduate of Rider University, competes in a track & field relay. (Peter G. Borg/ Rider University)
A native of Oxford where he attended Warren Hills High, Ruskan graduated from Rider in Lawrenceville in 2021. He competed for coach Bob Hamer on the track & field team for four years and was part of the Broncs’ 4×800 relay that won the MAAC Outdoor Championship in 2021.
He enlisted in the Coast Guard during a Nov. 10, 2020 ceremony during his senior year.
“Thank you Petty Officer Scott Ruskan ’21 for your courageous service,” the school wrote on X. “Your Rider family is so proud.”
In this screenshot, Petty Officer 3rd Class Scott Ruskan speaks to ABC News.
“This was definitely the real deal,” Ruskan said. “I just remembered when I got on scene there were 200 kids looking to someone for some kind of comfort and safety. They don’t really know what my experience is or my rank or my age. They just know this guy is here to help us and he’s a professional ,and I had to live up to that standard.
“The real heroes were the kids on the ground. Those guys are heroic and they were dealing with the worst times of their lives and staying strong. That helped inspire me to get in there and help them out.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.