Portrait of a Distinguished Citizen

• by Jan Garvin and SMSgt. Mike Cutis, Retired

If saving lives distinguishes a person, Sgt. Earnest Casbeer is a distinguished citizen in the truest sense. He has personally been responsible for saving more than 100 lives.

Casbeer is a Mountain Home Air Force Base paramedic, one of the men who flies emergency missions to rescue victims of car crashes and other accidents. Most of the people he has saved have been civilians.

As head of the base pararescue team, he is responsible or training all assigned paramedics. In the last two year, Casbeer and his men have been involved in missions flown to assist 103 people in Idaho.

Casbeer also volunteers one or two off-duty weekends per month to support civilian rescue missions. More than half the missions he has flown have been on weekends.

He is a recipient of the Silver Star, Purple Heart, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star and 11 Air Medals earned in life savings efforts. He is proficient in parachuting, scuba diving and mountain climbing.

Maj. Douglas Brosveen, commander of the paramedic unit, says Casbeer is "not only a paramedic, he is the non-commissioned officer in charge of all the paramedics, the ranking non-commissioned officer in the unit and as such is first sergeant. He is not only one of the most decorated paramedics I've ever known, he is also the most dedicated. His personal pride in being able to say he's never lost anyone he's been able to get to speaks for itself."

Photo provided by: SMSgt. Mike Curtis, Retired

Ernest Casbeer (Caz)

Provided by: SMSgt. Mike Curtis, Retired