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]

You must have cold blood.

I'm the one with cold blood. I'm like a lizard on a rock when the temp hits 110 or more. My core temp is normally about two degrees lower than most everyone else's, so I'm always cold.

[Tax-chick]

Just in time with the socks!

[Monkey Face]

Yep! I marked the tub so I can fish out my Thanksgiving and Christmas socks, too!

I still need to find the box with my boots....

[Monkey Face]

And I found four brand new pairs of Valentine socks!

[Dead Corpse]

Do they all match?

[Monkey Face]

Of course!

LOL!

The only ones that don’t match are the white ones, which I wear every day. ;o]

[sionnsar]

Drizzle turned into rain, 48F outside, sky is back to that soft grey color — life is GOOD!

[sionnsar]

Or it was until I checked on the weather in Cairo.

Ugh. Highs upper 80s, lows mid-60s, humidity ~80%.

[Monkey Face]

Well. What can I say? Maybe you can take a Sabbatical from Cairo to Germany...?

[NicknamedBob]

"I'm sure you meant CAVEAT."

I er, um, uh ... yeah.

[Monkey Face]

;o]

Thanks!

[sionnsar]

Well. What can I say? Maybe you can take a Sabbatical from Cairo to Germany...?

Gonna look kinda funny taking the minutes in Germany when the meeting's in Egypt. *\;-)

Are you better now?

[Monkey Face]

I think so. Part of my problem was that I let my blood sugar get to low, and then I got stupid, instead of knowing when to quit.

[sionnsar]

Been there myself. Enough times that it gets to a point where I tell myself it's time for a break.

Last time that happened (last week)... I had a major breakthrough on a problem I'd been struggling with all morning.

[sionnsar]

Or was that “Caviar”?

[sionnsar]

Thread: full stop.

One week until Moving Day ping.

Uh oh. Looks like the October ping banner disappeared!

[Monkey Face]

I know better than to let my sugar get too low. My “normal” is about 85, so it doesn’t take much to knock me off my feet. That lifting and unpacking/packing was a little too heavy for me without something in my stomach.

My bad.

[Monkey Face]

Moving Day? (Maynard G. Krebbs voice.)

[Not A Snowbird]

Should I start packing?

[Monkey Face]

I was doing some of that today....