Lance Corporal Winder Perez Saved After Army Staff Sergeant Pulls Grenade Out Of Leg (PHOTOS)

Posted: 05/31/2012 2:02 pm Updated: 05/31/2012 11:30 pm



When Lance Cpl. Winder Perez lay wounded in Afghanistan, the 22-year-old didn't know why bystanders weren't rushing to his side.

But when Navy nurse James Gennari raced to help Perez, he explained that a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) -- a shoulder-launched explosive -- was lodged in his leg. Gennari, and other military personnel, wouldn't let that keep them from risking their own lives.

Gennari said he held the Marine's hand, giving him pain medication as the two waited for Army Staff Sgt. Ben Summerfield, explosives ordinance expert, to arrive, according to CNN. Then Summerfield pulled the grenade -- three times -- before removing it.



Army Staff Sgt. Pulls Grenade Out Of Marine's Leg

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Jonathan Friedman

"Well, the truth of it is, I said a prayer, and I thanked God for everything I had..." Gennari told the news outlet. "Whether or not the grenade was gonna blow up, I left it to Him, and I just worried about keeping Lance Corporal [Perez's] airway open."



Lt. Cmdr. James Gennari of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps, credited with helping to save Lance Cpl. Winder Perez's life in January. Gennari is currently a nurse at the Capt. James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center.

Gennari, Perez and Summerfield all survived the careful but quick turn of events -- even as the extraction took place in a makeshift operating room outside, MyFoxMemphis.com reports.

Months after the harrowing situation on January 12, 2012, Gennari reflected on the day. He told CNN that despite the danger, he didn't have a second thought about trying to save Perez's life.

"I think the reason that I did it -- I didn't give it more than a thought or two -- but I knew that I'm sent out there by the Marine Corps to save lives, and he was in danger, and I looked at it as my duty and job to go do that," he told the news source.

Some idiots like Le Dready dare to question this young man's determination and sacrifice. What war did you ever fight in Dready

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/31/lance-corporal-winder-perez_n_1558883.html#s=more229807


Check out the interview to the story at the link above. It took THREE pulls to extract the RPG out of this young Dominicans leg

Here's what a reasonable person posted about the news.

"Old Army Dude
4 Fans
04:03 PM on 06/03/2012


I am a former Army Combat Medic and Operating Room Tech. This is what we do. Putting our lives in harms way so that others may live.You will notice this was all done outside, away from everyone else. That is so that if things go wrong, others will not get hurt. Doing this work for me was over 30 years ago, but if put in this situation today, I would not hesitate to do what these 2 brave men have done for this Marine. Semper Fi and Hoorah."

Semper Fi and Hoorah


Get that Dready Go stuff that down your windpipe

You can check out the Video at this link:

http://www.koat.com/news/new-mexico/albuquerque/Heroic-guardsmen-pull-live-bomb-out-of-fellow-troop/-/9153728/14460884/-/dmiuw3z/-/index.html

Heroic guardsmen pull live bomb out of Marine

UPDATED 5:48 PM GMT Jun 04, 2012



Heroic guardsmen pull live bomb out of fellow troop

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -

Months after military medics from New Mexico made the brave decision to pull a live explosive out of a young Marine, the guardsmen shared their story.

A crew of New Mexico National Guardsmen, well-practiced in medevacking wounded troops off the battlefield in Afghanistan, made a decision that few can fathom.

"Each of us on the aircraft had to agree to take the patient on," Spc. Mark Edens said.

Their patient, Lance Cpl. Winder Perez, had a foot-long rocket-propelled grenade embedded in his left side. It could have exploded at any time.

"There was quite a bit of alarm among the crew at the time, as you can imagine," Capt. Kevin Doo said.

Perez needed to be flown to the nearest medical unit, which was around 65 miles away.

"If the RPG exploded, you know Spc. Edens and Sgt. Hardesty are working on the patient directly over him, shrapnel alone would have been devastating. And about 18 inches behind where the patient is lying is over 300 gallons of jet aviation fuel and it would have been catastrophic," Doo said.

When the chopper landed, a Navy trauma nurse ordered his staff to stay away. The young Marine was still fully conscious.

"I took him by the hand he said, 'Where is everybody?' and I said, 'You have an RPG in your leg and everybody is staying away from you. I promise you I will not leave you until that thing is out of your leg,'" Lt. Cmdr. James Gennari said.

Rescue crews were able to get the live round out of the young Marine. He's still recovering in a Washington D.C. hospital.

Read more: http://www.koat.com/news/new-mexico/albuquerque/Heroic-guardsmen-pull-live-bomb-out-of-Marine/-/9153728/14460884/-/108h71o/-/index.html#ixzz1xcwBSuao

Thanks, Atabey, for the details an photos.

The medics knew that the chances of explosion of the RPG-7 were insignificant, since the warhead had become a dud.
Chances are that the projectile had already gone through a "net" or similar obstacle, and interacted with the incoming RPG-7 projectile in such a way that it "strangles" and damages the electrical circuit in the nose section. That prevents the electrical pulse sent by the piezo-electric impact fuze in the nose of the RPG-7 round from reaching the detonator, placed further aft.
And that, in turn, means that the shaped charge warhead, which has the capability to penetrate up to 40 cm of steel armor, does not fire.
So for all purposes the chances of explosion where minimal in all cases, since the projectile had already become a dud.
In any event there is always the possibility of explosion because of mishandling, but in expert hands the chances were small.