Around 7 a.m. on Friday, July 4, Scott Ruskin was on duty at the U.S. Coast Guard's Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas when the call came in for his team to respond to deadly flooding that was sweeping across Central Texas.

Scott Ruskan, a 26-year-old rescue swimmer with the U.S. Coast Guard, is being applauded as an "American hero" after his first mission saw him save 165 people affected by the flash floods in Texas. Newsweek reached out to Ruskan via social media message for comment outside of regular working hours.