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Message: [QUOTE="Ravage, post: 85075, member: 56"] [url]http://www.stripes.com/news/special-reports/my-leg-was-obviously-toast-1.104562[/url] The first time he was wounded, it was almost an afterthought. The insurgents were a mere 15 meters away, so when the bullet sped past his head, Staff Sgt. Ryan Stovall knew he was lucky to be alive. That the round exploded into a nearby rock, launching bullet fragments and stone into his left leg, well, that was something he could deal with. Stovall was one of four Green Berets who, along with two Marines and seven Afghan soldiers, were heading down a valley on July 29, 2009, to see if insurgents would flee from the back of a village as U.S. military vehicles entered the front. He’d noticed movement in some vegetation at the bottom of the valley. Soon the firefight began. Despite his wound, Stovall, a medic, fired more than a hundred rounds from his Squad Automatic Weapon, or SAW, giving the rest of his team crucial seconds to find cover, his command said. But outnumbered by enemies on higher ground, they had to cross a small open field to reach a more protected position. “As soon as we broke cover, enemy fire picked up — like tenfold — to the point where I was running crouched, zigzagging, trying not to get shot,” Stovall said. “I didn’t make it back to the next cover and concealed position. I made it to a little rock in the field and grabbed some dirt. “While I was laying there waiting for the fire to slow down, I was watching the bullets clip the grass around me.” That’s when Stovall heard that his patrol leader, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Douglas M. Vose III, was shot. Stovall made his way behind a wall where he found four Afghan soldiers, some in the fetal position. “I can’t really blame them,” he said. “We were taking fire from almost 360 degrees at this point.” Stovall grabbed the Afghans and started physically placing them along the wall to provide cover fire. An insurgent appeared on the other side of the wall. Stovall dropped a grenade over the wall and the insurgent ran to avoid the blast. As the insurgent took off, Stovall released a burst from his SAW and the insurgent fell. He saw another insurgent. Another burst, another insurgent down. Stovall then made his way to Vose and, with the help of Sgt. 1st Class Justin J. Aflague and Staff Sgt. Jarred Shewey, moved the wounded patrol leader behind a wall. “He was conscious but not lucid,” Stovall said. “His eyes were open but he wasn’t seeing anything or making any movements that made any sense. It took some time for the medical evacuation to arrive as the pilots were understandably hesitant to land in all the chaos.” The fire dwindled and the fight was over once Vose was evacuated — but he didn’t make it. Intelligence officials later confirmed the death of three Taliban leaders in the valley. “We also killed something like 15 to 20 of their minions,” Stovall said. Stovall never saw a doctor for his leg, opting to perform minor surgery on himself to remove most of the fragments. X-rays show a few pieces remain in his leg. For their actions in the battle, Stovall and Aflague earned Bronze Star medals with “V” device. Shewey earned an Army Commendation Medal with “V” device. Stovall also got a Purple Heart. “You can get hurt and go lay down and wait for someone to take care of you. But they were champing at the bit to get back,” Maj. Bradley Fisher, commander of Company A, 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group, said of Stovall and his teammates. “They came back still in bandages but ready to fight,” And the fight would indeed find Stovall again. Five weeks later, on Sept. 4, Stovall and a team of Green Berets were dropped off by helicopter at midnight near a village in the Uzbin Valley. From noon until dark, they watched armed men pour into the village. “I have no doubt they knew we were up there because there were shepherds wandering around and they saw us,” Stovall said. Upon completing the reconnaissance mission, they fell back to a hilltop to wait on a French helicopter. After hours of waiting, they got word the helicopter was on the way. It was 12:30 a.m. when they began to take fire from the base of the hill — rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small arms. Stovall grabbed Sgt. 1st Class Sean Laske and they ran to cover the backs of three soldiers positioned about 30 meters from the rest of the team. Bullets were flying by. “It was obvious someone could see us under the full moon,” Stovall said. “They could see us better than we saw them.” They heard the main group call for mortar fire over the radio. Stovall was worried about getting hit by friendly fire since the battery was about five kilometers away and they were 50 meters from the main position. But as Stovall and Laske raced to rejoin the main group, the enemy spotted their muzzle flashes and began firing. Within five seconds, Laske was struck twice in the hand, once in the helmet and once in the back. Fortunately, two of the bullets struck body armor and didn’t penetrate. Stovall was less fortunate. As he made his sprint, an RPG tore through his left leg. “We were getting the [expletive] shot out of us,” Stovall said. “It was intense. I had enough adrenaline going through me to make it back, but those were the last steps I took. My leg was obviously toast.” The French helicopter arrived about 15 minutes later. Stovall took off toward the aircraft but quickly fell down. His leg was useless. Laske helped him to the helicopter. “The helicopter had to sit there for a while since our three-legged race wasn’t moving very fast,” Stovall said. The fight was over, and so was Stovall’s deployment. He earned an Army Commendation Medal with a “V” device for his actions that day. And this time he did see doctors for his injuries. But over time his leg healed and he now has full use of it. “The idea of quitting or stopping never entered his mind,” Fisher said. “They’re in a horrible situation, getting attacked from multiple sides in both situations and he gets wounded and just continues on with the mission.” [CENTER][IMG]http://i45.tinypic.com/2w53ypi.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] [CENTER][IMG]http://i49.tinypic.com/33ek1zt.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] [/QUOTE]

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