Haitian native survives earthquake, becomes Airman

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Pedro Tenorio
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs

On January 12, 2010, the world witnessed the tragedy of the Haiti earthquake. Most people heard of the devastation by word of mouth or watched live coverage on the news.

Some witnessed it firsthand.

Airman 1st Class Rulsk Noel, a native from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, now a 366th Training Squadron heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration apprentice course student at Sheppard AFB, remembers the day he arrived home from school and literally felt his world come crashing down around him.

More than a quarter-million residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake.

“A previous unit that I was a part of deployed down there for a humanitarian mission,” said Tech. Sgt. Cedric Jackson, one of the instructor supervisors for the 366th TRS.  “I was only there for three to four months, whereas this young man was there. He lived it. By the time I got there, it had been two weeks. It was day to day for him. He got up to get to class, you know, laughing and giggling with his friends, just going to get proper instructions then 'BAM.' In just an eight-hour time span, his life had changed.”

Noel saw the earthquake as something more - he saw it as his first calling to serve.

“I saw it as a wake-up call,” he said. “The country was already bad. I was one class away from graduating in Haiti. I knew what was going on around me and it was probably a wake-up call. For people to actually stop hating on each other, but no, instead crimes went up, the leaders weren’t doing anything to help. It was just chaos.”

Noel said in the days following the earthquake, he searched for his friend’s houses, only to find rubble. He found places that used to be hang out spots now used as mass graveyards.

Pressing on with his fellow Haitians, Noel found his chance to make a difference when the United Nations Children's Fund soldiers came to the island to provide relief.

“When I went to school a couple of months later ,the two of us who could actually speak and understand English, we helped the UNICEF soldiers translate for them,” he said.

The time Noel spent with the soldiers helping people planted the seed of serving in his mind.

Noel recalled a conversation with his mother about his desire to join the armed forces. She was doubtful of him, but Noel was sure of himself. He believed his passion for serving others and his ability to speak multiple languages would be valuable assets in the military.

However, that dream was still a long way away. In September 2010, Noel moved to the U.S. with his mother and step-father. He quickly found himself helping other Haitian refugees in English as a second language class. Helping people yet again inspired Noel to follow his dream of serving the country and joining the Air Force.

Noel’s leadership skills and desire to help translated well when he finally became an Airman in 2017.

“He’s always willing to stop what he’s doing to assist others,” Jackson said. That translates well from his story in Haiti that he wanted to help and now being an Airman. That’s something to be admirable about. I’ve always tried to pride myself to be a people-first individual, and when I see one of my Airmen performing that way, it really stands out to me and it gives me hope. Like I said, he’s ready to graduate and head over to the operational side. I’m looking forward to it.”

Graduating in April, Noel will head out to Travis AFB, California, to help and support the fight as a HVAC Airman.