Ramstein airman thrust into rescuer role twice hailed as life-saver and inspiration

Staff Sgt. Stephen Hornik is a passenger services supervisor in the Air Force, but his track record of split-second rescues is making him look like a real-life version of a Marvel character.
Twice in the past 13 months he’s jumped into action to save lives, and his heroics cover two continents. Most recently, he was thrust into a life-or-death situation while working the night shift Oct. 4 at Ramstein’s passenger terminal.
Around midnight, Hornik, a member of the 721st Aerial Port Squadron, was in the break room when he was summoned to assist an unconscious military retiree who had collapsed and fallen face-first on the rubber mat in the building’s entryway.
Fellow passenger services supervisor Staff Sgt. Jeremiay Burns and other airmen who were first on the scene called emergency services and hooked the man up to a defibrillator, a 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing statement said.
But the man was still unresponsive and turning purple when Hornik arrived, he said.
“It was almost like a pause in time,” Hornik said. “Everyone was just standing there staring at him. ... I think everybody was kind of in shock.”