Saluting our Heroes: Saving Lives on and off the Battlefield

FORT GORDON, Ga. - He’s a soldier that helps in many ways: serving our country, the medical field, his family and the community around him. Most days, you’ll find Specialist Tristan Garza in the Eisenhower Army Medical Center.

"I am a Medical Laboratory Scientist. So, anytime you ever have any blood tests, any swabs, anything of that nature, I’m the one that actually does the testing," said Specialist Tristan Garza. 

Garza helps doctors while working to someday become one. He loves helping others and says it's also personal.

"I have a younger brother with special needs. He has profound autism and tuberous sclerosis complex. Now, what that is, numerous amounts of benign tumors throughout the vital organs of the body. With that said, my parents have developed a nonprofit organization dedicated to autism. That’s kind of what sparked my love for medicine.” said Garza.

The battalion surgeon hopeful also does outreach on Fort Gordon. One of the most recent involves bringing a tradition down south. He called it 'Operation Memorial Flag Garden.'

"We started small, we had about 100 flags out there. Every single flag had a yellow ribbon which was dedicated to someone, someone of the hospital staff which they could purchase for a fallen servicemember of theirs. Or, me and my team, we did a bunch of research, and we pulled in all the different medical MOS's or all the medical personnel who had fallen.” said Garza.

FOX54 salutes Specialist Tristan Garza.

“The side that aids and supports portion of it, I really love that aspect of this.” said Garza.