One very lucky Marine!

[Archae]

Talk about one lucky guy!

From http://www.marines.mil/unit/imef/Pages/MarineabsorbsIEDblast,walksaway.aspx
via http://www.blackfive.net/main/2010/07/some-guys-you-just-cant-blow-up.html
:

Lance Cpl. Edgar Jones, a combat engineer with the squad, found a
pressure plate inside the compound and hollered to Garst, asking what
he should do with it. Garst turned around to answer the Marine and
stepped on the bomb.

“I can just barely remember the boom,” Garst said. “I remember the
start of a loud noise and then I blacked out.”

Since Garst's improbable run-in with the IED, his tale has spread
through the rest of the battalion, and as often happens in combat
units, the story mutates, the tale becoming more and more
extraordinary about what happened next: He held onto his rifle the
whole time … He actually landed on his feet … He remained unmoved,
absorbing the impact like he was muffling a fart in a crowded elevator
…

What really happened even eludes Garst. All went black after the earth
uppercut him. When he came to, he was standing on his feet holding his
weapon, turning to see the remnants of the blast and wondering why his
squad had a look on their faces as if they’d seen a ghost.

Marines in Company L think Garst is the luckiest guy in the battalion,
and while that may seem a fair assessment, it was the enemy’s shoddy
work that left Garst standing. The three-liters of homemade explosive
only partially detonated.

Marines who witnessed the event from inside the compound caught
glimpses of Garst’s feet flailing through the air just above the other
side of the building’s eight-foot walls. The explosion knocked him at
least fifteen feet away where he landed on his limp head and shoulders
before immediately standing back up.

Not quite sure of what had just happened, Garst turned back toward the
blast, now nothing but a column of dirt and smoke rising toward the
sun.

“My first thought was, ‘Oh s---, I just hit an IED,’” he said. “Then I
thought, ‘Well I’m standing. That’s good.’”

Garst’s squad stared at him in disbelief. The square-jawed Marine has
a tendency to be short-tempered, and the realization that the blast
was meant to kill him spiked his adrenaline and anger.

“It pissed me off,” he said.

He directed his men to establish a security perimeter while letting
them know in his own way that he was OK.

“What the f--- are you looking at?” he said. “Get on the cordon!”

[lunatica]

1. My hope is that he doesn't have a delayed reaction that's terrible

But this story attests to the fact that being pissed off can give you the edge you need to survive.

[jobycom]

2. Wow. Sounds like a Bruce Willis movie. nt