iPod tells soldier he was shot - the real story

I talked to Kevin Garrad this afternoon and here’s the story firsthand:

The armor stopped the bullet.

The iPod was how Kevin Garrad found out he was shot. This is the real story.
Kevin said he got into the fight with the insurgent and afterwards he did not know he was even shot. He said he returned to his bunk after the patrol, put on his earbuds and began to clean his weapon.

He said: “you get into a ritual out there.”

No music came on. He dug around in the pockets where he kept the iPod and pulled out the twisted hunk of metal that is in the pictures. He said that was how he found out that he had been shot during the fight. He was happy that his armor worked.

He said the upgraded armor he was wearing could stop the AK-47 round. It was not the newest armor that is in Iraq now, but it was an upgrade. This was his second iPod that he had brought to Iraq. The first had been damaged earlier and the store would not replace it, even with the additional warranty he purchased.

The pictures are what happens when an AK-47 bullet hits an iPod.

He’s talked to Apple and is happy that they sent him another iPod. He’s gone through two already. If any others send him iPods he’ll put them in care packages back to friends in his unit who don’t have them.

**Updated**

Due to all the comments about carrying iPods on patrol I added this post which quotes sfuller in Digg about carrying iPods while on patrol in Iraq.
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If you need to reach Kevin, press or otherwise his email is engr21b2002@yahoo.com. I am sending updates and contact info to those who have inquired a bout this story.
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Due to the popularity of the pictures, me and my friend Danny with help of members of his family, worked our butts off to reach Kevin to get the facts and update people on the validity of the story. At the time of the posting it was a “friend of friend” story. I got emails from a co-worker, who got them from a family member, who worked with his mother - a big game of telephone.
In less than twelve hours from that posting the photos began to sweep the Internet as I described in my post the Digg Effect++. I hope this post moves up the line as fast.

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Published:
04.08.07 / 6pm
Category:
tech life, Media, pop-culture