Military Medical Team Makes the 'Toughest Call' (GI IMPALED BY BOMB - courage abounds!!!)

ABC News ^ | 9/22/07 | Ruth Reiss

[paulat]

Unexploded Rocket-Propelled Grenade Impales Army Private in Afghanistan By RUTH REISS

[snip]

One RPG skidded past Lt. Mariani's vehicle. All of the vehicles had to quickly get out of the "kill zone." But before they could get to safety, two rockets hit Pvt. Moss' Humvee.

Staff Sgt. Eric Wynn, 33, the soldier in the front passenger seat, felt one slice through his face. Moss remembers the truck practically lift up. He was thrown up against the Humvee and then moved to return fire.

"I smelled something smoking and I looked down ... and I was smoking," he said.

Wynn turned to tell Moss where to fire and saw the tail fins of the RPG sticking out of Moss' side.

Roughly the length of a baseball bat, an RPG travels at the speed of a bullet. At the front end is the warhead -- a large grenade. The detonator and fuel are contained in the shaft. On the back are its fins, pieces of metal that stick out like legs on a camera tripod. The RPG is the weapon of choice for many of the world's guerillas.

Luckily for Moss, the company medic Spc. Jared Angell, 23, who the soldiers call "Doc," was in his Humvee

[snip]

A Human Bomb The RPG that had plowed into Moss' lower abdomen stretched from one hip to the other. If the RPG went off, it would kill everyone within 30 feet of him. Yet Angell stayed close, bandaging his wounds and stabilizing the weapon so that movement wouldn't cause it to explode.

Moss was still fully conscious, so Angell ordered him to not look down at the injury. He didn't want Moss to panic.

[snip]

[Monkey Face]

*GAH!!

[Tax-chick]

We’ll miss you!

[Tax-chick]

GAH yourself? Is it lunchtime already?

Did you hear about my new cat?

[rottndog]

I know what you mean...

If it wasn’t for the UT, I wouldn’t post hardly at all anymore. The general direction of things to me is rather demoralizing, and it’s getting harder to stay tuned in. Of course, being in Kalifornia, I really have no say in things.

Take Care DC!

[sionnsar]

Wow!!!

[MarineMom613]

Mark for later reading. Sounds so inspiring. God Bless our Troops.

[MarineMom613]

Mark for later reading. Sounds so inspiring. God Bless our Troops.

[sionnsar]

I'm probably not going to be around much any more. Things, stuff, ect...

A possibility for me too, with the new duties. But that could change (if they reject my Cairo trip, the trip next week is my last until January).

[sionnsar]

I didn’t recognize the place with all the stars and red, white and blue stuff.

A very different home for the UT. No trolls to pave this month -- we're just keeping a great story alive.

[killjoy]

A similar thing happened in Somalia during the “Blackhawk Down” fiasco. One of the US Soldiers also had a live RPG round stuck in his chest.

[sionnsar]

*GAH???

Oh well, work calls.

[rottndog]

Backatchya!

*hug*

[rottndog]

Backatchya!

*hug*

[Dead Corpse]

Hhhmm... Newly Zotted thread...

[BJClinton]

Reporting for duty.

[Tax-chick]

Have you been to Egypt?

[Monkey Face]

Has Wednesday still got her nose out of joint over the new kid on the block?

[Professional Engineer]

We’re keeping this story alive.

Ping approved!

[colorado tanker]

This is quite simply one of the most incredible war stories I’ve ever read.

[Samwise]

"He was American, he was a solider, he was a brother and he was one of us. And there was nothing gonna stop us from doing what we knew what we had to do … We knew we did right. In that screwed up world we did something right," Brown said.

Men like this really humble me.