Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 News
    
        Photos

    Week in Photos

    Air Force TV

    Commentaries

    Features

    Art

    About Us
    
        Air Force Senior Leaders
    
        SECAF

    CSAF

    CMSAF

    Biographies

    Fact Sheets

    SECAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library
    
        CSAF Leadership Library 2022

    CSAF Leadership Library 2021

    CSAF Reading List Pre-2020 Archive
    
        2018 CSAF Reading List

    2017 CSAF Reading List

    2016 CSAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library 2023

    CMSAF Leadership Library

    50 Years of the CMSAF

    Adjunct Professors

    Air Force Strategic Documents

    Arctic Strategy

    Empowered Airmen

    State Licensure Portability

    Careers

    AF Federal Advisory Committees

    AF 75th Anniversary

    Policy Updates

    AF Content Management

    Contact Us

    AF Sites
    
        Site RegistrationU.S. Air Force LogoAir Force

        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      Dr. Nathaniel Ott, an Air Force Reserve instructor in Air University’s LeMay Center Joint Integration directorate, stands in his scrubs at his civilian-capacity career as an ER physician in Odessa, Texas. Ott was on-scene during a mass-shooting incident in Odessa on Aug. 31, 2019, and provided life-saving first-aid to a victim who had sustained three gunshot wounds while in her vehicle.Airman saves life in Odessa, Texas, amidst mass shooting
                        
                        
                        Dr. Nathaniel Ott, an Air Force Reserve instructor in Air University’s LeMay Center Joint Integration directorate, stands in his scrubs at his civilian-capacity career as an ER physician in Odessa, Texas. Ott was on-scene during a mass shooting incident in Odessa, Aug. 31, 2019, and provided life-saving first aid to a victim who had sustained three gunshot wounds while in her vehicle. (U.S. Air Force courtesy photo)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res

Airman saves life amidst mass shootingPublished Sept. 11, 2019
                    
                    By Staff Sgt. Quay Drawdy
                    
                    
                    Air University Public Affairs
            **MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFNS) --**An Air Force Reserve member was working in a civilian capacity in Odessa, Texas, August 31, and helped provide life-saving first-aid to a woman suffering from three gunshot wounds.
Lt. Col. Nathaniel Ott, an instructor in Air University’s LeMay Center Joint Integration directorate, was working as an emergency room physician when he heard a “pop” from outside. Ott walked toward the nurses’ station, heard three more distinctive “pop” sounds and stepped outside to see a vehicle with nearby police attempting to assist the driver.
“I ran out across the field to where the vehicle was and, in the driver’s seat, was a young woman who had been shot from the passenger side; there were holes in the passenger side of her car,” Ott said. “She was bleeding pretty profusely and her arm had been broken.”
A paramedic on the scene had put a tourniquet on her arm to help control the bleeding. Ott assessed her condition and concluded the victim needed to be transported to a trauma center. He knew a blood transfusion was the only way to save her life and the ER where he was working is not equipped with blood products or trauma surgeons.
One of the officers on the scene asked Ott if they should wait for an ambulance or get the victim into her police cruiser. The pair decided the victim couldn’t wait and needed to be transported immediately. While the officer and paramedic were assisting the victim, Ott ran back into the ER, grabbed IV components, brought a nurse with him and began working to turn the cruiser into an impromptu ambulance.
“Ambulances have a lot of restrictions on what they can do if there’s an active-shooter situation and the police don’t, so that allowed the patient to get to the hospital quickly,” Ott said. “We then worked on transferring the patient. She was pretty weak and could only sort of stand up with us providing support. We got her into the back seat of the cruiser and the paramedic got into the other side, began working on getting an IV in and the cruiser took off.”
Despite the shooter having left the area initially, the group wasn’t completely safe.
“While we were working on getting the patient transferred, the shooter drives by in front of us, maybe 30 feet away,” said Ott. “Fortunately, he wasn’t shooting at that time and there were quite a few police officers chasing him. It was chaotic. It’s one of those things you don’t really think about in that moment; you just sort of go and focus on your task.”
After passing by, the shooter pulled into a parking lot right next to the facility where Ott was working.
“We had patients in our ER and a police officer said, ‘Hey, you can’t go back there,’ and we told him, ‘Look, we have patients we have to take care of,’” Ott said. “They let us take a circuitous route around the gunfire to get back.”
The victim made it to the hospital and was in recovery.
Following the event, Ott made a point of taking care of what was important in his own life.
“What was next for me was wanting to hug my wife, Terah, and our five kiddos,” said Ott. “They were out of town at the time and took a few days to get back, but it just felt so good to hold them. It puts things in perspective.”
Before his transition from active duty to the Air Force Reserve, Ott served 13 years as an F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot. He then went to medical school and became an emergency physician.
“I can definitely say that training as a fighter pilot and then a year getting mortared in Iraq developed in me the ability to focus on a task and not worry about what else is going on,” Ott said. “Just focus on getting the job done in spite of everything else.”AFWN 



USAF 



AF 



Air Force 



AFRC 



Air Force Reserve Command 



Air Force Reserve 



Air University 



Airman 



LeMay Center 



Maxwell Air Force Base 



Odessa 



ReserveReady Featured News
        Senior Leader Priorities
                DAF leaders talk budget, reoptimizing the force
                    
                    DAF leaders speak at National Character and Leadership Symposium
                    
                    DAF members recognized during BEYA STEM awards
                    
                    DAF senior enlisted advisors discuss Airmen, Guardians in the fight
                    
                    SecAF Kendall AFA Warfare Symposium Q&A: Reoptimizing for Great Power CompetitionInnovation
                AFWERX director discusses role of tech startups, quick innovation in Great Power Competition
                    
                    DAF delivers lethality at the speed of data during Project Convergence Capstone 4
                    
                    DAF welcomes industry partners to HQ development program
                    
                    DAF announces Spark Tank 2024 finalists
                    
                    Chief Digital, Artificial Intelligence Office to host hackathon in HawaiiMAJCOM News
                Safety enterprise announces new mission, vision, goals in 2024 strategic plan
                    
                    Air Combat Command welcomes new commander
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander discusses Integrated Air, Missile Defense during Munich Security Conference
                    
                    Flosi to AFMC family: Embrace change, make every day count
                    
                    AMC rises to increasing global tension
 Quick Links
AccessibilityContact UsEqual OpportunityFOIA | Privacy | Section 508Information QualityInspector GeneralJAG Court-Martial DocketLink DisclaimerNo FEAR ActOpen GovernmentOSI Tip LinePlain LanguageQuestionsResilienceRSSSite MapVeterans Crisis LineCareers
Join the Air ForceAir Force BenefitsAir Force CareersAir Force ReserveAir National GuardCivilian ServiceConnect
            Get Social with Us
            
            Official United States Air Force Website
    Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil