Courageous iPod gives its life to save soldier
Posted by Dr. Macenstein
Above: Above: Kevin Garrad with his lucky iPod, and an incredibly happy nurse.
We know quite a few of our fellow Apple Fanboys who would gladly die for their iPod, so it’s nice to see an iPod return the favor. This flickr post shows the results of an insurgent’s AK-47 bullet on an iPod conveniently placed in soldier Kevin Garrad’s left chest pocket.
“My wife’s uncle works in a military hospital and told me about this. Its pretty amazing. Kevin Garrad (3rd Infantry Division) was on a street patrol in Iraq (Tikrit I believe) and as he rounded the corner of a building an armed (AK-47) insurgent came from the other side.
The two of them were within just a few feet of each other when they opened fire. The insurgent was killed and Kevin was hit in the left chest where his IPod was in his jacket pocket. It slowed the bullet down enough that it did not completely penetrate his body armor. Fortunately, Kevin suffered no wound.”
Being a 20 GB 4th gen iPod, odds are it is long out of its warranty period. The good news, (obviously aside from the fact that Kevin is fine) is that it was a HP-branded iPod that was killed in action. Unless Apple’s PR department is on crack, we’d bet a brand new Apple-branded 80GB video iPod is on it’s way to Kevin as we speak.
maybe if he wasn’t listening to his ipod he would have been more aware of his surroundings and could have avoided getting shot at all….typical ARMY.
WOW, futura.
You are either in the Marines (and just kidding), or an asshole.
That was really uncalled for.
Or, he’s 15 and clueless.
He could be 40 and clueless, but he’s definitely clueless.
As an Iraq vet, I can assure you, the noise generated by his vehicle, other weapons, etc would be much louder than even an ipod at full volume. I remember listening to Dave Matthews when I crossed the border into Iraq in 2003 during the initial invasion. Doing so kept me alert and connected to home in a very volatile situation. Futura doesn’t know what he is talking about. Unless he is a Marine or what we would call “super-soldiers” who automatically think that anything there is no reg about is automatically wrong.
I think this is awesome. But judging by the age of the iPod, it was an HP edition, it was time for a new one. Was this a clever attempt to get the eye of the Apple PR people? (Ok that was a joke, I am glad that he is OK).
I’m gonna call “bulls**t” on this one. As a fourteen-year Army careerist (two tours in Iraq), the “Pod was in my jacket” thing doesn’t hold water. OTV/IBA (Outer Tactical Vest/ Interceptor Ballistic Armor) doesn’t HAVE jacket pockets. The only pockets it has are the pockets that hold the SAPI (Small Arms Protective Insert) plates in place.
SO… if it was “in his jacket”, it would have actually been in his uniform pocket, UNDER the OTV/IBA. So the bullet would have hit the plate FIRST, then the iPod. And… the bullet, even if it HAD penetrated the SAPI plate (unlikely, but not unheard of), would have lost so much velocity it would have (at the most) lodged itself in the iPod, not gone clean through (and he wouldn’t be in the picture smiling).
Nope. He got tired of his iPod and wanted to get his fifteen minutes of fame. So he shot his iPod and made the story up.
It’s already been debunked on other sites.
(But it DOES make for a pretty good story, even if it’s false).
Hooah.
I second the BS call. It sounds like a cool story, but just the picture of the rear of the ipod alone (and the velocity of a 7.62 round) takes some weight out of the story.
From the entrance (especially) and exit, the ipod was definitely shot, though. I don’t have a 4th gen ipod in person to compare it from the picture and hole, but it looks too small of a diameter to be a common pistol caliber (9mm or .45), definitely does look more toward a 7.62 or 5.56 round through it.
Also, remember, insurgents aren’t the only guys to use 7.62.
Remember, we have M240B that’s 7.62, and the M14 (Used by some US Army sniper teams, also 7.62).