The Counter Terrorist – August-September 2019

The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2019 15

that he is neutralized in a permanent
way. The doc and I now move over
to our wounded sharpshooter, who
has taken a bullet to the head. There
is blood all over his face, neck and
shoulder; he still has his helmet on,
is conscious, and is able to walk
unassisted back to our truck. As the
van is unseated from the mud and
driven to the nearest hospital back
across the boarder, the doctor and I
prepare to dress the soldiers wounds
and investigate the full effects of the
injury. We lay him down and remove
his helmet. He has a first aid dressing
on that was first applied on the ground
by the lieutenant’s radioman the

moment after the firefight. He says it

only hurt him a little. We untie the

dressing and upon close examination

we discover that the bullet had passed

through the space in-between his

helmet and his skull. Military helmets

are not bulletproof and are supported

on the head by a type of suspension

system. The bullet moved trough this

gap, grazing the left side of his skull

and leaving a wound about 4’’ long,

removing hair and enough skin to see

the bone and then blasting out the

back of his helmet. It was an absolute

miracle. To say he was lucky is beyond

understatement. Obviously, one

centimeter to the left and we would be

Israel Defense Forces from Israel [CC BY 2.0 (https-//creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

The Counter Terrorist ~ August/September 2019 15

dealing with a serious life-threatening

injury, brain damage, or death.

We take our wounded man to a

hospital, where he receives a series of

tests. He is fine and ultimately decides

to keep the helmet for good luck. The

next day, as a reward for the successful

mission, we go to the Dead Sea and

enjoy a barbecue, and the shot soldier

was back out doing missions just two

weeks later. •