iPod takes bullet for soldier

Kevin Garrad of the 3rd Infantry Division looks to have gotten a little assistance from an unexpected source while on a street patrol in Iraq recently, when the iPod in his pocket got in the path of a bullet fired at close range, slowing it down enough that it didn't pierce his body armor. As if that wasn't a rare enough occurrence, as you can see above, the iPod in question was an HP iPod -- imagine the odds!

[Via Digg]

[Pacey @ Apr 5th 2007 6:45PM]

Funny, my 40gb HP iPod didn't fare so well...

/me kicks the white brick on his floor

[mitch @ Apr 5th 2007 6:46PM]

Doesn't listening to music while on a dangerous patrol sound like a bad idea?

[John Doe @ Apr 5th 2007 10:16PM]

Mitch. Did it ever occur to you that he might have been carrying it in his front pocket without listening to it? Good god people. Think why don't ya.

[mitch @ Apr 6th 2007 11:57AM]

Why carry it around when not listening to it? It would be easier to leave it at camp than to carry it around, if he wasn't listening to it, it was just extra weight right?

[Matt @ Apr 5th 2007 6:46PM]

I think it was more like this: The bullet went right through the iPod and then the body armor stopped it, you know, because that is what body armor is designed to do... Just because it hit the iPod on the way doesn't mean it slowed it down enough to stop the bullet from penetrating the armor, an iPod has no chance against a 7.62mm ball round.

[2Perfect @ Apr 5th 2007 8:33PM]

But... but... the iPod must've stopped it. It's Apple's heaven-sent product!

[Ryan @ Apr 5th 2007 9:28PM]

You both can make fun all you want, but you can clearly see by the way the bullet exited the back of the ipod that it totally did some slowing down.If they ipod truly had done nothing, the exit on the back would have been far more clean.

[jay @ Apr 6th 2007 2:17PM]

And I take it that "Matt" is so smart and has that 6th sense, that he knows exactly what size bullet it was that was shot at this soldier. Right? STFU! Why dont you stop trying to talk down a great thing. HP, and that a Soldier of ours lived to talk about this great day!

[philadelphonic @ Apr 5th 2007 6:49PM]

Engadget should get a pool together to buy that fine man a new iPod. I'd put some money in

[Mike Lord @ Apr 5th 2007 8:32PM]

If someone can get me a reliable mailing address for this soldier, I'll buy him a new iPod myself.

[Adam @ Apr 6th 2007 7:19AM]

I gree, we need to start a pool to get the money to buy this guy a new iPod. How do we contact this guy to find out where to send it.

[The Aggie CEO™ @ Apr 5th 2007 6:51PM]

I can see it now.........

"iPod + HP= Bullet Proof Armor"

That advertising campaign is gonna REALLY help Sells Skyrocket!! :-/

[js @ Apr 5th 2007 6:52PM]

iPod save soldier.
iTV review.
Apple doesn't care about hacking iTV.

Today is indeed the coming of the messiah. Applebots rejoice!!!

[Philster @ Apr 5th 2007 6:59PM]

@js

Don't forget about the 8-Core Mac Pro Monster.

But in all fairness, Microsoft DID announce the Red Zune. So... there you go.

[Ronan @ Apr 5th 2007 6:53PM]

Why is he a fine man?

Also, Matt, how do you know it was that pariticular bullet size?

[Matt @ Apr 5th 2007 7:05PM]

It was specified on the Flickr page that the insurgent fired a AK-47. The AK-47 fires a 7.62x39.

The only thing that saved this guy's life was the body armor (probably with a strike plate), not the iPod.

[Bloobie @ Apr 5th 2007 10:05PM]

I think philadelphonic meant "fine" as in attractive.

[iRobot @ Apr 5th 2007 6:56PM]

That's f*cking killer that the iPod totally saved this guy's life. Apple should put this new information on the side of the box, as another good selling point.

[Killian @ Apr 5th 2007 6:59PM]

bullet-stoppin' goodness from HP

[nizzy1115 @ Apr 5th 2007 7:02PM]

As far as i know, the body armor he had wouldn't stop an ak47 by itself, especially at that close of range. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ngLMU_6J0 if you don't believe me.

[Matt @ Apr 5th 2007 7:12PM]

Well that video is a few years old now for starters, and the body armor being issued is of the "modern" type demonstrated in the video, which consists of not only kevlar+titanium, but also ceramic strike plates.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interceptor_Body_Armor

[jake @ Apr 5th 2007 7:11PM]

I bet it was an RIAA agent that pulled the trigger, and the ipod was what he was aiming for in the first place

[troy @ Apr 5th 2007 7:14PM]

body armor can only stop a bullet fired from an ak-47 from long range. at close range the ak-47 round will penetrate body armor.

the i-pod most likely deformed the round so that the energy was dispersed. If it wasn't for the i-pod, I imagine the bullet would have penetrated.

[kkmd @ Apr 6th 2007 10:01AM]

Interesting.

I was a physician in Iraq and saw at least two 7.62 rounds embedded in the body armor that were fired at less than six feet.

[adam @ Apr 5th 2007 7:17PM]

wow, i had no idea so many forensic scientists and military armor experts read engadget!

[Nuch @ Apr 5th 2007 9:56PM]

I was just thinking the same thing.

[TheWakeUpCall @ Apr 5th 2007 7:19PM]

I want to see someone make a suit entirely out of 20GB HP iPods, and then call it the hi-tech body armour. yay.

[crescentdavid @ Apr 5th 2007 7:31PM]

Tomorrow: iPod rescues boy who fell down a well. Lassie retired.

[Pedro @ Apr 5th 2007 7:32PM]

Apple had better replace this on warranty.

Oorah!

[souathao @ Apr 5th 2007 7:37PM]

If only he had Dragon Body Armor the iPod wouldn't have to risk it's life.

[KC @ Apr 5th 2007 7:38PM]

I bet he was wishing that he kept his ipod inside his bulletproof vest instead.

[Harry K @ Apr 5th 2007 7:42PM]

the bullet was prolly a nato 5.56 round or a small caliber pistol cartridge as a 7.62 round would definitely pierce the ipod and body armor although I bet my FN 57 would pierce that stuff

[NiGhTmArE @ Apr 5th 2007 7:53PM]

No one cares.

[LividChihuahua @ Apr 5th 2007 8:48PM]

Yeah but we (the "Good Guys") are shooting the 5.56 and them (the"Bad Guys") are shooting the 7.62, and a 5.7 coming out of the right gun (FN P90) would rip right through an armor plated helmet and CQC ranges.

[wolfgang @ Apr 5th 2007 7:57PM]

Apple has a new line of body armour coming out called the "IBod"

[Alex @ Apr 5th 2007 8:08PM]

Unfortunately, its rectangular shape makes it slightly uncomfortable to wear. Jobs was heard to comment, "Anyone who's seen a woman wear foot-blistering shoes because they're 'cute' knows that fashion is more important than function."

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Apr 5th 2007 8:00PM]

Wow, that is an awesome story! My dad also uses his iPod while downrange, it helps to pass the time of course. But, you don't want to be distracted though, I assume the solider just left it on him for later use.

[tiuk @ Apr 5th 2007 8:01PM]

Weird, while I was walking to my car after class last night I daydreamed about a drive by shooting and a bullet being stopped by the ipod in my pocket.

[anonymouspimp @ Apr 5th 2007 8:21PM]

Fist of all, I am not saying that this isn't true... but I think its probably more likely that (given the fact that it is an older HP iPod, and the iPods around that time were WELL known for breaking or the battery dying, etc.) this is probably a bored soldier in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or hell, maybe even here in the US, and figured it would be fun to shoot his broken/nonfunctional iPod. Then most likely as a joke decided to craft up a "my iPod saved my life!" story for the internet just to see how far it would go. I might have done the same thing for giggles.

I know a lot of people in the military... not a single one of them isn't a prankster... I guess when you are forced to live with a bunch of other dudes on a boat or in the desert for 6 months, you have nothing else to do... about 3 people I know immediately popped into my head when I read this and I thought "Oh, any one of these three would have done this, its brilliant."

[confused :? @ Apr 5th 2007 8:44PM]

yup, i think your onta sumthing here,, i know a couple people that served some time,, & much the same,, anything for a laugh

[aobk84 @ Apr 5th 2007 8:23PM]

How much did Apple pay them?

[Josh @ Apr 5th 2007 8:37PM]

Yeah cause there isn't anything at all your $250 could be better spent on to send to a guy in Iraq. Post your email and I will send you a good address you can send an ipod to.

[Mike Lord @ Apr 5th 2007 8:52PM]

Ass, err... I mean, Josh: Get a job and shut up. I'm a veteran of the first Iraq war and don't appreciate you or your comment.

[dfgdfgdfg @ Apr 6th 2007 4:32AM]

Josh: I could not agree more.

[derekwf @ Apr 5th 2007 8:42PM]

Glad there are so many chairborne commandos here.

Terminal ballistics is my job, and I can tell you without a doubt that a SAPI plate will quite easily stop a 7.62x39 round, even at muzzle velocity.

This IPOD made only the tiniest difference in the veolcity of the round before impact.

[Matt @ Apr 6th 2007 12:03AM]

The back of an iPod is essentially stamped sheet metal about 1mm thick, now of course it absorbed a very small amount of energy (enough to deform the casing) but to the bullet it was like punching through a sheet of paper, not nearly enough to slow the bullet enough to somehow keep if from penetrating the vest. The amount of kinetic energy on a medium-caliber rifle round (such as a 7.62x39) is amazingly high, so high that it takes a specialized tempered ceramic plate to effectively stop one. The idea that an iPod had anything to do with his survival is just stupid.

[Ashton @ Apr 5th 2007 9:50PM]

Meh, our vests will stop a 7.62x54R (The older rounds fired by WWII era Russian Mosin Nagant rifles) round, which is considerably more powerful than the 7.62x39mm that the AK47 fires. The kicker is it will stop only 1 bullet, and only if it hits the ceramic trauma plate in the middle, which breaks after receiving such a round. The better question that should be asked is where the iPod was located on his body. Now, assuming it's a full metal jacket round (most bullets are), it's possible the impact with the iPod deformed the bullet enough that it didn't pierce the kevlar like it should've. It's also possible it struck the iPod, and was caught by the trauma plate (and thereby, not really making a difference since the trauma plate would've caught it anyways). More information is needed, specifically.

[Grant @ Apr 5th 2007 10:42PM]

20GB HP iPod?
sounds like the insurgent did him a favor.
Upgrade time!

the sad thing is now you can get a 30GB w/ video for less than those originally cost.

[Kenban @ Apr 5th 2007 11:18PM]

This reminds me of a story from the first Gulf war about a Gameboy (this was back in the days of the original GB) that was in a tent which burned down. After the fire the soldier found the Gameboy and the case was melted and the screen broken but he flipped the power switch and it still turned on and beeped.

I know Nintendo replaced the Gameboy but I am not sure if anything else was given to the soldier or not.

[kansieo @ Apr 6th 2007 2:16AM]

The gameboy noted is actually on display at Nintendo World in NYC--yes, it is in pretty bad shape, but work it does.