MILITARY TRAINING SAVED HIS LIFE
A Special Forces Soldier’s path to recovery after getting shot eight times at close range
Story by Staff Sgt. Liesl Marelli, Army National Guard
August 18, 2008
AFGHANISTAN - During combat operations in 2006, a Special Forces Soldier assigned to Company A, 2nd Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne) transmitted over the radio, “I’m down and bleeding out fast.”
Master Sgt. Tom Morrissey, who was deployed on his third combat tour, suffered eight shots from an enemy’s AK-47 at close range.
“I thought I was going to die.”
However, his quick thinking and “training ad nauseum” as he calls it, helped save not only his life but the lives of the other men who were hit, because of the muscle memory he developed from all the military training he had received.
“Once the shooting stopped, I intuitively did a medical assessment of myself,” he said. “Immediately following, I verbally did the same for my interpreter and the other injured civilian.”
Because he was shot in both arms and legs, Morrissey was not able to administer first aid, but he explained to his translator how to stop the bleeding while they waited for their Quick Reaction Force, from the 10th Mountain Division, to come get them.
Link:
http://www.militaryspot.com/news/military-training-saved-his-life/429
A Special Forces Soldier’s path to recovery after getting shot eight times at close range
Story by Staff Sgt. Liesl Marelli, Army National Guard
August 18, 2008
AFGHANISTAN - During combat operations in 2006, a Special Forces Soldier assigned to Company A, 2nd Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group (Airborne) transmitted over the radio, “I’m down and bleeding out fast.”
Master Sgt. Tom Morrissey, who was deployed on his third combat tour, suffered eight shots from an enemy’s AK-47 at close range.
“I thought I was going to die.”
However, his quick thinking and “training ad nauseum” as he calls it, helped save not only his life but the lives of the other men who were hit, because of the muscle memory he developed from all the military training he had received.
“Once the shooting stopped, I intuitively did a medical assessment of myself,” he said. “Immediately following, I verbally did the same for my interpreter and the other injured civilian.”
Because he was shot in both arms and legs, Morrissey was not able to administer first aid, but he explained to his translator how to stop the bleeding while they waited for their Quick Reaction Force, from the 10th Mountain Division, to come get them.
Link:
http://www.militaryspot.com/news/military-training-saved-his-life/429
