EOD - When Breaking Rules Saved a Life!

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Byrdman

New member
Nothing to do with boating here..other than, as some of you know my last assignment during deployment days was moving all the EOD soldiers around the world and working close with EOD families. Some pretty focuses folks. One infrantry sollier, 1 RPG, 1 Blackhawk crew, 1 swift surgeon, 1 EOD soldier... who pulled out a live one....and, one happy American family.

Cheers to those today on the line!

Byrdman


http://www.militarytimes.com/multimedia ... g_surgery/

All, violated rules, to save a life . . .

The story is about Channing Moss, who was impaled by a live RPG during a Taliban ambush while on patrol. Army protocol says that medivac choppers are never to carry anyone with a live round in him. Even though they feared it could explode, the flight crew said damn the protocol and flew him to the nearest aid station.

Again, protocol said that in such a case the patient is to be put in a sandbagged area away from the surgical unit, given a shot of morphine and left to wait (and die) until others are treated. Again, the medical team ignored the protocol.

Here's a short video put together by the Military Times, which includes actual footage of the surgery where Dr. John Oh, a Korean immigrant who became a naturalized citizen and went to West Point, removed the live round with the help of volunteers and a member of the EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) team.

Moss has undergone six operations but is doing well at home in Gainesville, GA. I think you'll find the video absolutely remarkable.
 
Thanks Byrdman for this example of what outstanding young people this country is still producing.

Can't find the words to express how wonderful I think the actions were of all the people involved in their unbelievably selfless acts of courage to save one life of someone they never new or seen before and to do so willing to break the rules that would have given any of them a very honorable way out of the extreme risks they chose to take. This to me is humanity at its finest.

Jay
 
Wow!

What a story!

What bravery and guts!

Thanks, and congratulations to all!

That's the America I'm so proud to be a small part of!

Joe. :thup :thup :thup
 
extraordinary courage exhibit by everyone involved in the saving of this young soldier's life. i salute the entire team. now then, having agreed with each c-brat that has responded to byrdman's post, i'm surprised no one has mentioned the obvious problem with what had occurred. where else does rules and regulations mean more than in the military? the outcome in this situation was positive, thank goodness. where do we go from here regarding what rules and regulations need to be obeyed and which one's can be ignored?
pat
 
Discipline in the armed forces is, obviously, paramount. But good leaders do what must be done in situations such as this. This ended positively; it could have been very different. But it appears those reacting accepted the risks.
 
Byrdman,

I glad to see the current crop of people in our military look at the rules more as guidelines (kind of like the Pirates Code from Johnny Depp). There are rules and things you do to get it done. I'm glad these people got it done.
 
I note that this event occurred in 2006. I wonder how many of these soldiers are out of the service by now.

Since we haven't heard of any disciplinary action, I'm guessing that their superior officers agreed with their actions.

I see that the active part of the ordinance was just the detonator.
How dangerous is the detonator without the warhead? Could it have taken down the helicopter?
 
Thanks for sharing this video.

This brings a tear of pride in these fine warriors.

There is also a flashback to a time back during the Vietnam War when a soldier was wounded in the side with a friendly rifle rocket. This was disarmed under fire and removed while the medic and soldier was behind a stone wall. The details are fuzzy, but I did meet the soldier while I was in a Naval Hospital near Boston, I think in Spring, 1965. We shared the same ward. Life Magazine and many dignitaries continually came through our ward to visit this man.

The men and women that saved the soldier exercised the skills they were trained in while working as a team.

"They did what they had to do." :thup :thup :thup
 
Wow seems like I remember a training officer while I was in boot camp say something along the lines of "do something even if it's wrong." I hope all involved got some sort of accomidation. One thing they did get was the satisfaction that they put themselves in harms way to save the young soldiers life. They could have taken the easy way out but instead they risked their lives or possibly carreers to save anothers life. It's great to see these stories of heroism published rather than all the negative press that followed Viet Nam. Thanks for posting that Byrdman.
 
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