Shot to helmet
U.S. Marine Walks Away From Shot to Helmet in Afghanistan
Excerpt:
Lance Cpl. Koenig, a lanky 21-year-old with jug-handle ears and a burr of sandy hair, is a designated marksman. His job is to hit the elusive Taliban fighters hiding in the tightly packed neighborhood near the base.
The insurgent sniper hit him first. The Casper, Wyo., native was kneeling on the roof of the one-story outpost, looking for targets.
He was reaching back to his left for his rifle when the sniper's round slammed into his helmet.
The impact knocked him onto his back.
"I'm hit," he yelled to his buddy, Lance Cpl. Scott Gabrian, a 21-year-old from St. Louis.
Lance Cpl. Gabrian belly-crawled along the rooftop to his friend's side. He patted Lance Cpl. Koenig's body, looking for wounds.
Then he noticed that the plate that usually secures night-vision goggles to the front of Lance Cpl. Koenig's helmet was missing. In its place was a thumb-deep dent in the hard Kevlar shell.
Lance Cpl. Gabrian slid his hands under his friend's helmet, looking for an entry wound. "You're not bleeding," he assured Lance Cpl. Koenig. "You're going to be OK."
Lance Cpl. Koenig climbed down the metal ladder and walked to the company aid station to see the Navy corpsman.
The only injury: A small, numb red welt on his forehead, just above his right eye.
Comment: 2nd chance at life!
That is wonderful--I had the privilege of visiting the body armor lab at West Point back in 1987, and they were just starting to get prototypes for lightweight composites that would actually stop a round, as opposed to just flak.
ReplyDeleteTo draw a picture of what was in the field, friends of mine in the Marines tested out a flak jacket with live fire.....suffice it to say that they were convinced that there was a reason it was called a "flak jacket" and not a "round jacket."