Got a Purple Heart for this one
Who was that Ranger in Somalia who got hit by a dud RPG? I mean that's gotta suck!
For me it was a 7.62 from an AKM, actually make that 3 7.62s, about a year and a quarter ago. Firefight with a cadre of Fedeyeen(did I spell it right? ahh, who cares!?)Saddam guerrillas in Tikrit. First I was throwing an M67 grenade at a quartet of the them abou 20 meters from our position after the PFC on our 240G was hit by spalling and fragments after his MG was hit by an AK(turned a perfectly good Mike 240 Golf into a piece of junk, and not to mention screwed up this poor kid's left arm), grenade had just left my hand when I heard one big thud, and the next thing I knew I was flat on my back with blood just starting to ooze out of 2 in and out gunshot wounds to my torso.
I had been hit by 3 7.62s, the first one coming in just above my right hip, missed my kidney by about 1/2 inch exited and went on its merry way. The second one struck my ceramic, cracked that, and 3 ribs under it. The 3rd and final little bastard took me under my left armpit on my way down, glanced off my shoulder, traversed my chest, missing my lungs, heart and spine, exited by way of my right armpit and came to a halt in my right bicep.
Needles to say it hurt like hell and when I realized what exactly had happened, I began screaming for a Corpsman at the top of my lungs. Everything after that is kind of a blur. I remember waking up at Landstuhl in Germany, I was back on duty within a month. I was ecstatic to be back with my fellow Leathernecks, but man that sure did suck!