Tech Sgt. Lee Brewer

Originally from Greenwood Springs, Miss.

Every day, Tech. Sgt. Lee A. Brewer teaches medical personnel how to treat service members injured in war. Fellow instructor Master Sgt. Orville Goff said Brewer lives by "Nobody left behind" in his classroom.

"I have seen Tech. Sgt. Brewer on numerous occasions work with individuals who just could not understand the course," Goff said in nominating Brewer for Air Force Times' Service Member of the Year. "He was patient and understanding and refused to give up on the individual."

Brewer put his own teaching to practice while deployed to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. He saved an injured soldier's life by inserting a chest tube to re-inflate his lung. He also performed an emergency intubation on an Afghan soldier suffering from traumatic injury from a bomb blast and gunshots.

Brewer's former supervisor, retired Master Sgt. John G. Melnick, said Brewer's experience as a former Army combat medic made him a great asset to the Air Force. He says many lives have been saved because of Brewer's "dedication to duty, service before self, attitude and outstanding medical skills."