An Army officer from the Highlands survived an attack in Afghanistan when a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) bounced off his chest before exploding.
Lt David Robertson, 30, of 4 SCOTS Royal Regiment of Scotland, escaped with minor injuries. The missile ricocheted off his body armour and detonated against his Warrior armoured vehicle.
While at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, Lt Robertson hit Prince William with a potato in riot training.
Now, that's something unusual to put on your resume.
The soldier, from Inverness, received the Queen's Medal when he and William passed out in December 2006. The award is made to the officer cadet who achieves the best scores in military, practical and academic studies.
The rocket incident came on Saturday, when Lt Robertson's company and 1,000 Afghan National Army soldiers advanced on a Taleban position in the countryside around Musa Qala.
"We were advancing on an old graveyard, up on some high ground," he said. "There were some trees after a small village, as I crested the last hill before the trees, several RPGs were fired at us.
"I just saw this one coming head on." He added: "I didn't get my life flashing in front of me but it did slow down.
"The thing split into three parts - it coming towards me, it hitting me and bouncing off and then detonating.
"It must have just skiffed off me and went to my left and detonated on the fully open gunners hatch. I was knocked backwards I hit the back of the turret pretty hard.
"I remember a big bang and a heat wave and then felt burning in my arm and side."
Another soldier applied a field dressing and the company continued forward to retrieve an Afghan casualty. The operation ended in an air strike against the Taleban forces.
Lt Robertson was eventually treated for minor injuries by medics. |
