06/11/2026
Logan May of Midvale is the subject of this post from the Idaho National Guard. Glad he's on the mend!
Pvt. Logan May will likely never forget his first drill with the Idaho Army National Guard.
While performing fitness training at Gowen Field on May 17, the 17-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest, causing his heart to stop beating for six minutes. After being revived by his recruiters, he spent the next five days in the hospital and was released the morning of his high school graduation.
“I’m lucky to have been on the military base when it happened or else I’d probably not be here right now,” May said. “There were medics there who knew exactly what they were doing at that moment.”
May was conducting physical training as part of the Idaho Army National Guard’s Solider Readiness Program in anticipation of attending basic training and advanced individual training later this summer.
Sgt. 1st Class Ian Walker said that as Soldiers made their way to the final training event, a one-mile run, he heard Staff Sgt. Michael Torres call for a medic. At first, he said he didn’t think it was that serious, but once he saw May’s face, he knew something serious was wrong.
Fortunately for May, the unit had a medic on site. Walker said the medic had already checked May’s vital signs and asked Walker to do so as well. Both Soldiers were unable to find May’s pulse, and he was no longer breathing.
“As soon as I saw how serious it was, training kicked in,” said Walker. “Everyone found a job and did that job. That’s why training is important.”
The medic, Spc. Dustyn Sneider, placed a nasopharyngeal airway in May’s nose in an attempt to open his airway and began CPR while Staff Sgt. Branden Pilkenton maintained May’s airway and used a self-inflating air pump to provide him with air. Staff Sgt. Kolten Conant, May’s recruiter, called 911. Walker cut off May’s shirt and Cadet Jack Kliewer ran to grab a nearby Automated External Defibrillator.
Sneider administered a shock to May and continued CPR until the Gowen Field Fire Department and Ada County Paramedics arrived on scene. May was then transported to Saint Alphonsus before later being transferred to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital: Boise.
Walker, a senior recruiter, is not a medic but has received extensive first-aid training as an infantryman in both the Idaho Army National Guard and the Marines.
“One of the doctors said that we did everything to a T of what to do in this situation and if we had skipped any step, there could have been a different outcome,” Walker said.
May remained sedated and on a ventilator from Sunday to Wednesday and was released to go home Friday morning. He walked with his graduating class at Midvale High School the same night.
May said he does not recall much of his graduation nor of the week of the incident. He believes drinking an excessive amount of caffeine may have led to the incident and said he hasn’t drunk any caffeine since.
May enlisted into the Idaho Army National Guard in April and will undergo further medical testing to determine if he will be able to continue his military career. He has two years from his enlistment to complete basic and advance individual training. He plans to become a 25U signal support systems specialist.
He currently wears a vest with a defibrator at all times in the event his heart stops again and has a new scar from where his face hit the asphalt after he collapsed, but said he is otherwise happy to be walking around and to return to his normal life.
“I feel very, very lucky” May said. “From what I’ve heard, I’m in the very little percentage of people who survive these types of things. I feel very lucky to be where I was when it happened and who was there.”
Since being released from the hospital, May said he befriended Sneider on social media.
“It’s very nice to know that there are people out there looking out for other people,” he said.
