Soldier Reunited with Life-Saving Advanced Combat Helmet
The following is a release from C. Todd Lopez and the U.S. Army:
A bullet fired by a Taliban fighter in Afghanistan missed hitting Staff Sgt. Joseph McKenzie in the head by about a quarter of an inch. Instead, his Advanced Combat Helmet, or ACH, took the brunt of the impact. After he got fixed up by the medic for superficial wounds, he pressed on for another 12 hours of fighting.
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On Oct. 27, Program Executive Office, or PEO, Soldier returned that helmet to McKenzie during a short ceremony at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
It was March 29, 2011, when McKenzie got shot. Back then, he was assigned to the “No Slack” 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment. The unit was involved in a firefight in Afghanistan’s Ganjgal Valley.
“We air assaulted on to the top of a mountain, a helicopter landing zone, and we were basically setting up a blocking position,” McKenzie said. “My platoon was on one peak, and then another platoon on another peak. We were holding these peaks, and these blocking positions while another platoon pushed through the middle of the valley, and pushed out all the Taliban that were in the …Read the Rest
Source:: Tactical Life
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