Michael Bautista:  

Life Well, let's see. . . . Went into the Army in October right after high school. Finished all my training and went on to my unit of choice in Italy. As an Airborne Infantry medic, I jumped all over Europe. I went to French Army Parachute School in Toulouse, France. Earned my wings dispite my broken shoulder. After my tour in Europe I spent a year in the 82nd Airborne and did a tour in the Multinational Force and Observers on the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt as a Peacekeeper. There I got to experience "friendly fire". Not fun, but then to paraphrase Winston Churchill "There is nothing more exillerating than to be shot at without result". Once off of active duty I went to Stanford for Paramedic School. I worked as a paramedic in Oakland for most of my career. During my time as a medic I responded to the '89 Cypress Structure collapse, the '91 Oakland Hills Fire, and the flooding in the City of Napa and Yuba City in '97-98. I was a Medical Specialist for California Urban Search & Rescue Task Force 4. In addition to my taskes as a medic on the team, I also served in the capacity of Swiftwater Rescue Technician and High Angle/Technical Rope Rescue Instructor for the team. I ended my career as an Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Pediatric Life Support, and Basic Trauma Life support Instructor. I taught Paramedic classes for Stanford, Chabot and Northern California Training Institute. I would have to say that the two highlights of my career were delivering a breach birth and rappeling off the center span of the Dunbarton Bridge "Ausie-style" (inverted). My medic career ended during a mutiple vehicle roll-over on the I-580 while treating multiple trauma patients. I blew out a few discs in my back lifting. Aw well. . . the fun had to end sometime. With all the time off be...Expand for more