Serving His Nation
Robert Brager

On September 11, 2001, RU graduate Robert Brager, '89, was a first responder to an event that changed a nation’s life. A detective for the New York City Police Department assigned to the elite Emergency Services Unit, Brager says his life and career have changed dramatically since 9/11. “Many of our daily assignments have become anti-terrorism duties protecting some of the largest and most visible targets in the world,” he explains.

His unit consists of 400 members assigned to handle heavy rescue and SWAT work for the entire city of New York. “Our unit is trained in hostage rescue, high risk warrant service, high angle rope rescue, confined space entrapment, hazmat technicians, barricaded subjects and much more,” says Brager. He was recently certified as a tactical medic, becoming a state-certified paramedic.

Brager has served his community since he was 16 years old, joining his local volunteer ambulance crew in Brooklyn that year. For 23 years, he has held an EMT license. While at RU, Brager was just as conscious of fulfilling a need to serve the community. “I was a CPR instructor giving classes to the students enrolled in the nursing program at RU,” he says. “As a senior, myself and several other students began an effort to start a first response first aid unit on campus. We were in the process of presenting this information to the university just prior to my graduation.” The organization, RU EMS, is still in existence today.

Brager credits his time at RU, where he also served as a staff photographer for The Tartan and worked as a videographer for the first cable version of the Highlander basketball coaches’ program, for teaching him responsibility and courage. “Attending Radford was my first experience in living away from home and my first time out of NYC,” recalls Brager. “The professors at RU always encouraged me to think outside the box and not take the easy way out of anything. This has translated into my work with the NYPD in many ways as we tackle a new age of pro-active work in anti-terrorism.”

IN THE PHOTO ABOVE: Detective Robert Brager pictured from the top of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge during a training session.