Photos

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Lt. Cmdr. Riley Hoyer, an emergency physician and Department Head of Emergency Medicine at Naval Hospital Twentynine Palms, stands inside the hospital’s emergency department a week after his swift response to a life-threatening emergency in downtown Palm Springs on March 20, 2025. While on an evening jog, Hoyer encountered a teenage boy suffering from a severe stab wound behind his knee, resulting in significant blood loss. Acting quickly, he stabilized the victim by adjusting a makeshift tourniquet before collaborating with local law enforcement to apply a proper tourniquet, successfully controlling the hemorrhage. His immediate intervention, tactical medical training, and composure under pressure helped save the teen’s life before emergency medical services arrived. Hoyer credits his Navy training in Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) for equipping him with the skills necessary to provide rapid, lifesaving aid in unpredictable situations (U.S. Navy photo by Christopher C. Jones, NHTP/NMRTC Twentynine Palms public affairs officer).