We owe these guys so much...

[SteamWake]

An amazing story of bravery by US armed forces..

U.S. army surgeons donned body armor to remove a high-explosive bullet from a soldier's head during a tense five-hour operation, The Sun reported Friday.

Non-essential staff at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan were evacuated during the surgery to remove the Taliban bullet, which contained two ounces of high explosives powerful enough to kill the entire surgical team.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,...est=latestnews

[AVGWarhawk]

Dedication...sir!

[TLAM Strike]

I'm curious what kind of bullet that was?

Is the Taliban using explosive rounds now?

[Jimbuna]

~SALUTE~

And not even a US national...not that this should matter.

[Wolfehunter]

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

I'm curious what kind of bullet that was?

Is the Taliban using explosive rounds now?

Ya thats what I'm wondering... hmmmm

[Admiral8Q]

I should be there, oi!

[CaptainHaplo]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

~SALUTE~

And not even a US national...not that this should matter.

Careful Jim - you might get people thinking that not all Americans are evil!

[krashkart]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaplo

Careful Jim - you might get people thinking that not all Americans are evil!

Can't have that now, can we.

Two ounces of explosive? I wish the article gave some indication as to which caliber of bullet the surgeons had to remove from the man's head.

Two ounces of explosive? I wish the article gave some indication as to which caliber of bullet the surgeons had to remove from the man's head.

It is from the Sun so maybe its not accurate.
The picture they show appears to be a 12.7mm round or similar, but if you take the Russian 37mm which the taliban are known to have as an example to measure against then their explosive round doesn't contain 2oz.

[krashkart]

I doubted a small-caliber round could contain that much. He's lucky to still have a head. What's ironic to me, though, is that last week there was an episode of some medical drama where they had to clear a wing of the hospital while they decided how to remove a bazooka round from a patient. The operating theater was directly above a main oxygen pipe.

That's TV for ya.

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by krashkart

I doubted a small-caliber round could contain that much. He's lucky to still have a head. What's ironic to me, though, is that last week there was an episode of some medical drama where they had to clear a wing of the hospital while they decided how to remove a bazooka round from a patient. The operating theater was directly above a main oxygen pipe.

That's TV for ya.

"Gray's Anatomy"

... horrible horrible show...

[kiwi_2005]

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

"Gray's Anatomy"

... horrible horrible show...

Agree. A wannabe ER.

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by krashkart

I doubted a small-caliber round could contain that much. He's lucky to still have a head. What's ironic to me, though, is that last week there was an episode of some medical drama where they had to clear a wing of the hospital while they decided how to remove a bazooka round from a patient. The operating theater was directly above a main oxygen pipe.

That's TV for ya.

Reality check O2 is no longer delivered via tubing.

[SteamWake]

Heres a couple of photo's .. only the first two images but it will answer the questions about the size of the round.

http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/hea...juries?slide=1

[UnderseaLcpl]

It's definetely 14.5mm high-explosive incendiary; you can tell from the x-ray. Like .50cal rounds of the same type, it has a tungesten core and a small charge in the nose designed to aid in penetrating armor through heat-softening, kind of like a HEAT warhead but backwards.

My guess is that it's a chemically-ignited type of round, but I don't know enough about Warsaw Pact ammo to be sure. Apparently, the round either dropped straight down onto this guy's head with a low enough velocity that the tip didn't shatter and the chemical compund didn't ignite, or the round was fired from extremely long range. Either that or his skull was not hard enough to shatter the tip so the compunds remained stable.

I'm inclined to believe the former is the case, since the velocity of an AP round like that is high enough that it will deform when it strikes dirt, bone, metal, or anything else of substance.