Air Force Capt. James “Jim” Horn will tell you this: he doesn’t do anything simply — or once.
Horn, who serves in the 183rd Wing of Illinois National Guard, was honored in April as the 2024 USO National Guardsman of the Year. He enlisted in the Marine Corps as a junior in high school, graduated boot camp, and then did recruiting duty for several months until he decided to transition to the Navy and do it all over again.
“I spent four years in the Navy and loved every minute of it,” Horn said.
And then his life changed. He became a father.
“My beautiful boy was born, and that slammed the brakes on everything related to the military for a while,” he said.
The O’Fallon, Missouri, native moved to St. Louis and started his first master’s degree. He had three more children, finished not one, but two master’s degrees and, last year, finished his doctorate.
“You can see history repeating,” he said. “I don’t do things only once.”
Horn stepped away from military service to focus on being a dad. But he said he couldn’t stay away, adding the pull to serve was too much.
He joined the Air National Guard about four years ago because he “could do all these cool things and still be a very [big] part of my kids’ lives.”
He came back with the goal of being commissioned, which happened in Sept. 2021.
“I was almost aimless until I put the uniform back on,” he said. “That lit a fire. And when I came back in, I started volunteering extensively at the USO. Every time I put on the uniform, I naturally expect more out of myself — and at the end of the day, that makes me feel better because I perform better. And being a dad has also made me better in the military. I really feel it’s made me a better leader.”
Horn proved his leadership qualities during the New Year’s 2023 holiday. While traveling on the interstate, a car in front of him suddenly veered to the left and crashed. Horn pulled his car in front of the crashed car and called 911. He then checked to see if there were injuries, all the while attempting to flag and slow traffic.
“I thought if I could at least get traffic stopped, then we’d be safe,” he recalled. “A truck driver saw me and started to slow down, so I turned my attention back to the wrecked car. But as soon as I started to turn, an SUV tried to go around traffic into the third lane and didn’t see us.”
The SUV hit the already wrecked car, which hit Horn, catapulting him over their hood.
“I got back up and called 911 back and said, ‘Now we have bodies. Send ambulances.’”
Two people in the car were severely injured and taken by ambulance to a local hospital. Horn drove himself to the hospital, where he was treated for injuries to his neck and back and a torn rotator cuff.
“We were all lucky to be alive that night,” he said.
Lt. Col. Loc “Tone” Nguyen nominated Horn for the USO award, noting not only his bravery from that night but also his ongoing public service.
“Jim has been a volunteer at USO St. Louis Lambert International Airport for a few years, as well as a quiet volunteer in his community,” Nguyen said. “Jim is a great servant, a family man, and a great dad. I hope Jim’s story inspires many others to serve.”
Horn said he is thankful for Nguyen’s nomination and says that at the end of the day, he will do anything to spread positivity.
“We’re all a community, we’re all in this together,” he said. “The American spirit is alive and well. There are a lot of good people out there doing a lot of good things.”