The Golden Rule of weapon's safety is never point your weapon at yourself or anyone else even if you think the safety is on or there is no ammo loaded. Since arriving here in Iraq we have had seven patients that have accidentally shot themselves or someone else when handling their own weapons. The latest victim was a guy that came in last night. He was sitting on a couch watching TV as his buddy was putting away his weapon across the room. The weapon fired and the bullet hit him in the chest causing some major damage to his lungs, liver and spinal cord. He is alive but in critical condition right now and probably will never walk again. It makes you a little nervous when you are around hundreds of inexperienced soldiers everyday that are carrying around a loaded weapon and are exhausted from the heat and 16 hour patrols out in the city. Makes me think that wearing my body armor 24/7 might be a good idea afterall.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
What a sad story! Friendly fire has got to be the worst way to get injured or killed in a war. That poor soldier. And the poor soldier that did it. I can't imagine the guilt he must be feeling. What happens to him? Does the army take any disciplinary action against him?
No wonder you hear so much about post traumatic stress disorder in soldiers coming home.
And yes, the body armor is not a bad idea.
Really scary Pete and sad too, please be careful. Seven accidental shootings in 3 months sounds like an awful lot!
That sucks, like Sandy said it's tragic all around. The poor shooter too, I never thought I'd have empathy for that but what an usual circumstance. Glad you guys aren't (hopefully) removing and holstering your weapons in the ER, gym, and dining hall, be safe elsewhere though!
Hey bud...just wanted to drop you a note and say we were thinking of you and Chris tonight. We wanted to get out of the house a bit for dinner and settled on Logans. You introduced us to that place...and the bread didn't disappoint. Looking forward to hitting something up like that when you return. Be well buddy,
James
Post a Comment