Two days after the Oklahoma National Guard activated personnel to assist the Oklahoma Highway Patrol with severe winter weather response, two soldiers were injured Monday when the driver of a semi-truck struck their Humvee from behind on the Will Rogers Turnpike near Vinita.
"They both received non-life-threatening injuries" and were taken to Mercy Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., for treatment, said Lt. Col. Geoffrey Legler, public affairs officer for the state Guard, in a Monday evening phone call. "One was released after being checked out by a doctor. The other one ... I'm told his injuries were a little more severe, but, again, they weren't anything close to life-threatening."
According to an initial report by OHP, the incident occurred at 11:03 a.m. Monday, about seven miles east of Vinita. Alan Stricklen, 30, of Conway, Ark., was driving eastbound in a Freightliner truck when he struck the back of the Humvee.
The OHP report said Guardsman Cody Casey, 32, of Oklahoma City, was driving the Humvee, and first responders from the Vinita and Afton Fire Departments had to use the Jaws of Life to extricate him from the wreck. He suffered injuries to a leg and was admitted to the hospital.
Soldier Callie Bryant, 24, of Oklahoma City, was a passenger in the Humvee and was treated and released for injuries to the head, leg and arm, according to the report.
Stricklen and a passenger in the truck were uninjured.
The Guard activated on Saturday to support in assisting with stranded motorists and other weather response operations with teams based out of Vinita, Stroud, Chickasha, Perry, Ardmore, Clinton, Checotah and Woodward.
In a phone interview Monday before news of the crash, Col. Robert Walter, Oklahoma National Guard Joint Task Force Commander, said crews had responded to numerous injury crashes, rendering first aid and providing hospital transport.
Walter said some of the soldiers who have activated for this storm response were deployed to Washington, D.C., and the Oklahoma State Capitol following the pro-Trump insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in January, noting the last eighteen months or so have been particularly busy even for a state Guard used to disaster response.
"Domestic operations recently has been a growth industry," Walter said. "We've had some civil disturbance, we had the Trump rally that we assisted with, floods, as well as some Capitol security missions, not to mention that we've had people on duty continuously since April of last year for COVID response and they're out there every day at the regional health centers, helping with rendering vaccines and tests. So it's been very, very busy."
"They're holding up well," Walter said. "The thing about the Guard is, the reason that we become Oklahoma Guardsmen is to help Oklahomans."
"I'll call it a labor of love. Sure, it wears on -- you know, the operational tempo being so high starts to wear on people, but they're doing what they like to do and it's why they joined the Guard."
