Gives a whole new meaning to our tagline - "Keep Your Helmet On"

from Defend America

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Bradley A. Snipes, antitank assaultman, 3rd Mobile Assault Platoon, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team - 2, holds the helmet that saved his life. During a recent mission with his platoon, Snipes was shot in the head by an enemy sniper. The only thing that saved his life was the Kevlar helmet. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jerad W. Alexander

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Bradley A. Snipes
Helmet Saves Marine from Sniper’s Bullet

By Sgt. Jerad W. Alexander
2nd Marine Division

CAMP AL QA’IM, Iraq, Nov. 4, 2005 — The 3rd Mobile Assault Platoon took sniper fire all day as they conducted a relief in place with 1st Mobile Assault Platoon.

Lance Cpl. Bradley A. Snipes, a native of Lacy Springs, Ala., and antitank assault man, 3rd Mobile Assault Platoon, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, sat in the turret of his Humvee watching his assigned sector behind his M-2 .50-caliber machine gun, when he became the target of a sniper.

“We were doing a relief in place with (1st MAP) and had been taking sniper fire across the wadi all day,” said the 21-year-old, 2002 graduate of Brewer High School. “I was sitting in defilade, just my head above the turret when it felt like someone hit me in the head with a baseball bat.”

The sniper had shot Snipes square in the side of his head, hitting him directly in his Kevlar helmet.

“I was in shock, I didn't know what happened. I remember thinking ‘Am I still here?'” he said.

Snipes dropped down in the turret. It was at that point he realized he was, in fact, still with the living thanks to his helmet. While inside the cab of the Humvee, another shot
tore through one of the handgrips of his .50-caliber machine gun, partially shattering it. The sniper then began focusing on the vehicles tires.

After a moment, Snipes said he composed himself and raised his 5-foot-11-inch frame back up into the turret to engage the sniper with his machine gun.

The platoon's organic firepower and a 500-pound bomb from overhead air support eventually silenced the sniper, noted 1st Lt. Jeremy S. Wilkinson, platoon commander, 3rd Mobile Assault Platoon.

Snipes' life, though, was saved by his gear.

“I was really surprised,” he said. “It's supposed to be able to stop a 7.62mm round at long distances. Well, it did,” he said. “The gear works, don't doubt it. This is proof.”

Currently, Snipes, who is a veteran of combat operations in Afghanistan, is trying to keep his helmet as a memento.

“I want to put it in a case with a plaque that says ‘The little bullet that couldn't.'”

http://www.defendamerica.mil/profiles/nov2005/pr110205b.html