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10-24-2009, 07:48 PM
| #1 |
| Der Crewchief   Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Ansbach, Germany
Posts: 33,150
| Marine bomb expert shaken but not deterred by IED I am sure you all have seen this. I have received the email a few times, but I love it. It really is a symbol of our resolve. Leading the fight is Gunnery Sgt Michael Burghardt, known as 'Iron Mike' or just 'Gunny'.. He is on his third tour in Iraq . He had become a legend in the bomb disposal world after winning the Bronze Star for disabling 64 IEDs and destroying 1,548 pieces of ordnance during his second tour. Then, on September 19, he got blown up. He had arrived at a chaotic scene after a bomb had killed four US soldiers. He chose not to wear the bulky bomb protection suit. 'You can't react to any sniper fire and you get tunnel-vision,' he explains. So, protected by just a helmet and standard-issue flak jacket, he began what bomb disposal officers term 'the longest walk', stepping gingerly into a 5 foot deep and 8 foot wide crater. The earth shifted slightly and he saw a Senao base station with a wire leading from it. He cut the wire and used his 7 inch knife to probe the ground. 'I found a piece of red detonating cord between my legs,' he says. 'That's when I knew I was screwed..' Realizing he had been sucked into a trap, Sgt Burghardt, 35, yelled at everyone to stay back. At that moment, an insurgent, probably watching through binoculars, pressed a button on his mobile phone to detonate the secondary device below the sergeant's feet 'A chill went up the back of my neck and then the bomb exploded,' he recalls. 'As I was in the air I remember thinking, 'I don't believe they got me...' I was just ticked off they were able to do it. Then I was lying on the road, not able to feel anything from the waist down' His colleagues cut off his trousers to see how badly he was hurt. None could believe his legs were still there 'My dad's a Vietnam vet who's paralyzed from the waist down,' says Sgt Burghardt. 'I was lying there thinking I didn't want to be in a wheelchair next to my dad and for him to see me like that. They started to cut away my pants and I felt a real sharp pain and blood trickling down. Then I wiggled my toes and I thought, 'Good, I'm in business.' As a stretcher was brought over, adrenaline and anger kicked in. 'I decided to walk to the helicopter. I wasn't going to let my te am-mates see me being carried away on a stretcher.' He stood and gave the insurgents who had blown him up a one-fingered salute. 'I flipped them one. It was like, 'OK, I lost that round but I'll be back next week'.' Copies of a photograph depicting his defiance, taken by Jeff Bundy for the Omaha World-Herald, adorn the walls of homes across America and that of Col John Gronski, the brigade commander in Ramadi, who has hailed the image as an exemplar of the warri or spirit. Sgt Burghardt's injuries - burns and wounds to his legs and buttocks - kept him off duty for nearly a month and could have earned him a ticket home. But, like his father - who was awarded a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts for being wounded in action in Vietnam - he stayed in Ramadi to engage in the battle against insurgents who are forever coming up with more ingenious ways of killing Americans. Here is also a link to the actual story in the Stars and Stripes: Marine bomb expert shaken but not deterred by IED | Stars and Stripes
__________________  fly boy:"isnt that the first jet bomber becasue i have flown one in a flight sim before and i know how it handles"[/I] |
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10-24-2009, 08:07 PM
| #2 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Abingdon, VA.
Posts: 2,283
| I have also seen it several times but it is still a great read and you know it has to piss the enemy off. 
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10-24-2009, 08:11 PM
| #3 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: New Jersey
Posts: 5,668
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10-24-2009, 08:17 PM
| #4 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: san antonio texas
Posts: 275
| Hard core,man...just hard core.
__________________  I am a soldier, I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight. - General George Patton Jr |
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10-24-2009, 08:44 PM
| #5 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: South Carolina
Posts: 3,722
  | That is fricken awesome!
__________________ "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it" "Those who dwell in the past, condemn the future"  |
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10-24-2009, 11:20 PM
| #6 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Hurst, Texas
Posts: 2,823
| Ooo-RAH!
__________________  Pillage, then burn. Argue not with dragons, for thou art crunchy and go well on toast. |
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10-25-2009, 12:47 AM
| #7 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Corona, California
Posts: 1,534
| I've never seen the story. That's one determined Marine...  Wheels
__________________ Cheers  Wheelsup_cavu  Wheels's Photos - Time lapse build of an F/A-18 Super Hornet - Lock N' Load |
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10-25-2009, 12:50 AM
| #8 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Queensland
Posts: 4,543
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10-25-2009, 08:54 AM
| #9 |
| “Archive”  Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 4,850
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__________________  "Valor does not mean Hero." |
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10-25-2009, 11:53 AM
| #10 |
| "World Traveller"   Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Royal Deeside/St Andrews, Scotland, UK
Posts: 15,214
| Great story!
__________________  "Success is not Final, Failure is not Fatal, it is the Courage to Continue that Counts" Sir Winston Churchill "To him the People of the World Largely owe the Freedom and Liberties they Enjoy Today" Enscription on Hugh Dowding's (AOC Fighter Command 1936-40) statue in London WW2 Talk: A WW2 Discussion Forum My Photo Collections on Flickr |
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10-26-2009, 02:39 PM
| #11 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: May 2009 Location: Hamlet, NC, US
Posts: 720
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10-30-2009, 07:10 PM
| #12 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: MS
Posts: 800
| I love it and the first time I have seen it.Had to be a great feeling to walk away and give that finger 
__________________ There is no "overkill". There is only "open fire" and "I need to reload". A little trust goes a long way. The less you use, the further you'll go. "We don't want war. Nor will we tolerate slavery." "A free man would rather die on his feet than live on his knees." |
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11-05-2009, 06:03 PM
| #13 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Norway
Posts: 1,100
| cool  i love that story and all my respect to him and his fellow soldiers. salute keep up the GREAT work all of you !!
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