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| Afghanistan |
| Heroic NM guardsmen pull live RPG out of Marine |
| 2012-06-05 |
| Months after military medics from New Mexico made the brave decision to pull a live explosive out of a young Marine, the guardsmen shared their story. A crew of New Mexico National Guardsmen, well-practiced in medevacking wounded troops off the battlefield in Afghanistan, made a decision that few can fathom."Each of us on the aircraft had to agree to take the patient on," Spc. Mark Edens said. Their patient, Lance Cpl. Winder Perez, had a foot-long rocket-propelled grenade embedded in his left side. It could have exploded at any time."There was quite a bit of alarm among the crew at the time, as you can imagine," Capt. Kevin Doo said. Perez needed to be flown to the nearest medical unit, which was around 65 miles away. "If the RPG exploded, you know Spc. Edens and Sgt. Hardesty are working on the patient directly over him, shrapnel alone would have been devastating. And about 18 inches behind where the patient is lying is over 300 gallons of jet aviation fuel and it would have been catastrophic," Doo said. When the chopper landed, a Navy trauma nurse ordered his staff to stay away. The young Marine was still fully conscious."I took him by the hand he said, 'Where is everybody?' and I said, 'You have an RPG in your leg and everybody is staying away from you. I promise you I will not leave you until that thing is out of your leg,'" Lt. Cmdr. James Gennari said. Rescue crews were able to get the live round out of the young Marine. He's still recovering in a Washington D.C. hospital. Video at the link. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #4 What a great story! I fully expect some REMF to find some reg these heros broke and raise a fuss. or perhaps a Dem congress critter. these guys deserve a serious medal. at least. |
| Posted by: USN,Ret 2012-06-05 21:33 |
| #3 Bravery personified! Dear God send us more young men like Edens and Hardesty. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2012-06-05 08:49 |
| #2 When I was active, we used to say that the NGs on AT were nocturnal animals; slept during the day and came out at night to drink. We may have understimated the breed. Part timers. Christmas help. Half civilian. If they can do this, we're going to be okay. God bless them all. |
| Posted by: Richard Aubrey 2012-06-05 08:44 |
| #1 true heroism. It happens |
| Posted by: Frank G 2012-06-05 08:15 |