Training Saves Lives

Stories of Response and Survival

One of the first things we teach in our Active Shooter Response Training courses is how to overcome the victim mentality.

In order to survive an active shooter event or other emergency situation, people must stop seeing themselves as victims and start acting like survivors. Only then, can they effectively use their training to survive and save lives.

Read the stories below of how people have used the equipment and skills they acquired through Active Shooter Response Training to save their own life or someone else’s.

Ready to get trained on emergency response? Contact us today through the form on this page.

Jeremy's Story

Civilian Treats Injured Teenage Boy He Found in a Car Accident

Jeremy was on his way home from after working second shift when he happened upon a severe car accident on I-85. He found 13-year-old Grayson, who had been ejected from the vehicle and was bleeding severely from his shoulder.

Just a few weeks before this incident, Jeremy had gone through the Active Shooter Response Training and Emergency Medical Training with ProActive Response Group and purchased a Bleeding Control Kit, which he kept in his car. Jeremy grabbed the kit and began packing Grayson’s injured shoulder with wound packing gauze. He also wrapped it with a pressure dressing and applied pressure until the fire department arrived.

Grayson was life flighted to the hospital, where trauma doctors confirmed that Jeremy’s actions saved Grayson that day. The ProActive team later had the chance to meet Grayson and introduce him to Jeremy, his first responder.

Watch Jeremy tell his story.

Clayton's Story

Anderson School Teacher Applies His Own Tourniquet

Anderson school teacher, Clayton Porter, completed Active Shooter Response Training with ProActive Response Group in 2018. The following year, he was at home working on a project with his electric saw when the saw kicked back and sliced open his leg.

Using the one-hand application C-A-T tourniquet in his Bleeding Control Kit, Clayton was able to stop the bleeding until EMS arrived. His training saved his life.

After hearing Porter’s story and realizing that this local teacher had lived out the training he had received from ProActive Response Group, Chad Ayers and Chris Martin, visited Porter and presented him with a new Bleeding Control Kit.

Read the Full Story
Jim's Story

Norfolk Resident Proves Tourniquets Aren’t Just for Active Shooter Situations

Nobody can know when they walk into an Active Shooter Training Class that they’re going to use that training to save a life within a year.

Nobody can know that the very kit they purchase on a whim after class will later be used to keep someone alive until professional help arrives. None of us know these things – Jim Rogers didn’t know them when he attended an Active Shooter Training Class in the spring of 2019.

About a year after Jim attended an Active Shooter Training Class in Norfolk, Virginia and bought a Bleeding Control Kit, his skills were put to the ultimate test. Jim was working when a contractor onsite had a serious injury and needed immediate help. The contractor was bleeding profusely from his arm and attempts were being made to stop the bleeding with direct pressure, but Jim could see it wasn’t working. Emergency responders were on their way but were still several minutes out. The victim mentioned that he was getting lightheaded. Something had to be done quickly.

Jim kept his Bleeding Control Kit in his car, which contained a CAT Tourniquet. He retrieved the kit, and when he applied the tourniquet to the injured man, the bleeding visibly began to slow. Immediately, he felt the situation calm as well.

EMS later transported the injured man to the hospital, where he experienced a quick recovery. Without Jim’s trained response and willingness to help, the outcome may have been very different.

When ProActive Response Group heard Jim’s story, we sent Jim a new Bleeding Control Kit to replace the one he used. We hope he doesn’t need it again, but if he does, he’s ready.

Want to hear more stories like these?

Sign up for our email newsletter, and you’ll be among the first to learn about other real-life success stories.

New call-to-action