Sent: Friday, July 01, 2005 7:23 PM To:

Subject: Incident in the IZ.

Guys,

Just thought I would share another experience with you.

First please read the below email, then follow me on what the investigation concluded.

Ready?

The U.S. Army service member they are speaking about in the email was working at the 86th C.S.H or Combat Area Support Hospital. I don't know the rank, however I do know the distance to the hospital from where he lived and was driving from is about a quarter mile. To make matters worse, all he had to do was walk out the other side of his compound and he would have been at work instead of the back of his compound. This clown climbed on his bike with Kevlar and flack vest as required, but didn't put his weapon on safe. He also had a round chambered. The weapon was hanging on his arm and fell down his arm during the drive. As soon as the butt stock of the weapon hit the ground the round fired. The round skinned his face, then hit the roof of his Kevlar, bounced back, and entered his head. Luckily at that point it didn't really have enough power to kill him. He lay in the road until the members from Phoenix base found him a few minutes later.

Just to let you know, I know that the M16 is not supposed to do what it did, i.e. fire when the butt stock hit the ground. But, as you can see it did.

The email below was from a First Sergeant at where I work trying to get remind his soldiers that this is another good reason to wear a Kevlar. Please understand it came out before the investigation was even started.

Is this guy a Darwin award runner up? Even better, I wonder if he got his purple heart.

J

______________________________________________ From: Deleted to protect the sender

Sent: Wed 6/29/2005 2:17 PM To: Deleted to protect the sender Subject: Incident inside the IZ

To ALCON,

This morning while three Phoenix Base personnel were riding the bus in to Phoenix Base they saw a military personnel lying on the ground next to his bicycle. After a serious of questions our personnel found out that the male was just shot in the head area. What save the young man's life was that he had his Kevlar on and not carrying it on his flack jacket. The incident occurred just south of Sam's video store while he was riding his bicycle to work. The matter is still under investigation by the RSO and the IZ Police. The young man was rushed to the hospital by our personnel. The incident was reported to me by SSG Hawks of the J3. The victim is belief to be a member of the 86th CSH.

As a reminder we are still at U3 weather you are driving or walking between FOB'S.

Great Job by ALL!!!

Submitted on 07/01/2005

Submitted by: Anonymous
Reference: Email: Incident in the IZ

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

Jack said:
Neutral: Personal Account
While accidents involving firearms in a combat zone are a grey area, the stupidity involved in carrying a loaded M-16 with the safety off while riding a bike is Darwin worthy. He's lucky that his M-16 was on single shot mode rather than burst! I have personal knowledge of a man who managed to put a burst of 3 under his chin and out his forehead with an M-16 set to auto rather than safe.

Kelly said:
Maybe Toss: Repeat
I'm sure I read this one previously. If so, this is a repeat of the first submission.

Charles said:
Neutral: Personal Account
I'll side with Jack... and I have not previously run across this one.

Tracy said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Jack says everything I want to say :)

James said:
Maybe Toss: Lacks Excellence
Agreed, there is NO EXCUSE for his not having the safety switch on while riding his bike. Yet would seem that had he NOT worn his kevlar, the bullet would have gone straight up after grazing him rather than bouncing off the helmet and into his head! As he was otherwise following regulations, and as there is nothing inherently stupid about choosing to ride one's bike to work, I conclude that other than having the safety off there is nothing particularly outstanding here...

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