SPRING MILLS, Pa. (Tribune News Service) — Sgt. Adam Hartswick and RJ Shirey call each other brothers, though they only met four years ago.

"The best family is the family you choose," Hartswick said with a laugh earlier this month in his Spring Mills home, as he and Shirey lounged with their prosthetic legs on the ottoman.

The State College Area High School alums who graduated nine years apart were brought together after two accidents and dozens of surgeries that left them both amputees.

While their trauma experiences were very different — Hartswick's injuries occurred in May 2013 in Afghanistan; Shirey's hunting accident happened three years later in Centre County — each showed grit and determination that helped save their lives, and now they're drawing on those experiences to help others.

Each credits the use of a tourniquet as key to their survival. They work together with Techline Technologies, a Willow Grove-based company that makes trauma simulation equipment and runs training classes. Training sessions, including a Tactical Combat Casualty Care certification class held last month in Pleasant Gap, focus on how to properly apply tourniquets to stop bleeding in an emergency.

"I want people to know that it's a simple thing you can do, just put a tourniquet on somebody," Hartswick said.

United by trauma, drive to help others

Hartswick, an Army combat medic in Afghanistan, was going to aid an ambushed foot patrol on May 14, 2013, when he stepped on an improvised explosive device. He helped instruct fellow soldiers to apply tourniquets on both of his legs, "high and tight." The helicopter landed next to him at the scene and he was airlifted within minutes.

Four men lost their lives that day, and several others were severely injured. Hartswick suffered a fractured hip socket, perforated eardrums and had a portion of his right hand and both of his legs removed above the knee due to the injuries. He spent months undergoing surgeries and rehabilitation at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Three years later in central Pennsylvania, Shirey was 15 years old and out for a morning of spring gobbler hunting with his father.

"It was the time of day when the sun's not up, and the trees are still black against the gray sky," he said.

As he went to shift his gun from his shoulder to in front of him, the trigger caught on his jacket and fired a bullet through his right calf. Shirey said he wrapped his dad's belt around his leg as he laid in the woods, watching the sun come up.

When his dad loaded him into his truck to get out of the woods, Shirey remembers being able to see through his leg. After 45 minutes, EMTs responded and took him to the nearest hospital before he was airlifted to UPMC in Pittsburgh. After numerous surgeries, doctors decided to amputate Shirey's right leg above the knee.

At amputee meetings after his accident, Shirey — the youngest attendee — said he didn't find the support he was looking for. His physical therapist mentioned Hartswick, and he remembered their mothers knew each other.

The pair instantly became friends.

"Adam allowed me to find a way to cope with my injury, and help others and myself," Shirey said.

Over the years, they have turned to each other for advice, whether it is about the technology of their legs or how to tie a tie. They also work out together at the gym, play video games and have joined forces to teach others about life-saving measures during emergencies.

Following their passions

Techline Technologies reached out to Hartswick soon after he lost his legs and offered him a job when he was ready.

A year later, Hartswick and his dad attended a training program through Techline.

"That was when I knew this was my passion," he said.

He brought Shirey along to a training in December 2017. Shirey said he was "in" right away, and believes there's nothing more important than having the knowledge and proper equipment to save a life.

"Trauma will find you," he said.

The pair recently shared their stories with a Tactical Combat Casualty Care class at the Pleasant Gap Army Reserves Center. The training, which Hartswick organized, was the first of its kind in Centre County.

"They're amazing," said Dave Perry, who co-owns Techline Technologies with his brother, Dan. "It's one thing to go through training, it's another thing to see the personal side of what is at stake. This isn't just mechanically how you fix things, this is someone who is alive and here with us and just such a blessing."

The training is two days that are full of classroom lessons, stories and real-life, high-stress situations. The goal, instructors say, is to increase the number of patients who survive trauma situations as more community members are trained on the techniques needed to help them.

"You're a lot more likely to run into a massive bleeding incident, in everyday life, in civilian life, and you really should know how to stop massive hemorrhage," Dan Perry said.

Shirey, a junior studying security risk analysis through Penn State's College of IST, will take his EMT exam in May after taking the certification class through Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology. Growing up, his dream was to be an astrophysicist, but in more recent years he has been drawn to helping others and hopes to pursue a career as a physician assistant.

Techline plans to hold more TCCC classes in Centre County, and Hartswick and Shirey say they will continue to be involved.

"I was opened up to Adam and Techline and all the ways you can save people's lives, it really ignited a spark in me to want to help people," Shirey said. "Knowing that my injury was the worst-case scenario, it would be nice to have another 15-year-old kid not have that worst-case scenario."

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