He Got a Haircut From a Bullet 😳
A soldier in Afghanistan's Helmand province recounts a near-death experience during a firefight, occurring just hours after learning via satellite phone that his wife was pregnant with a girl. A bullet from an AK rifle grazed his head, cutting off a chunk of hair, narrowly missing killing him before he ever met his daughter.
Summary
The speaker opens with a deeply personal moment: he called his wife on a satellite phone and learned she was having a girl during an ultrasound. The two agreed on a name for their daughter right there over the sat phone, creating an intimate family milestone in the midst of a combat deployment.
That same night, the soldier was tasked with leading a group into a mission in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The unit became pinned down by fire coming from three different buildings simultaneously, and the soldier was initially unable to identify the source of the incoming fire. He was attempting to coordinate an air strike to suppress the threat.
In an effort to get a better vantage point, he rose to one knee, at which point an AK round passed close enough to his head to physically cut off a chunk of his hair — a literal near-miss that underscores how close he came to death. He closes the account by drawing a stark emotional contrast: just five hours before almost being killed, he had been happily naming his unborn daughter, and he reflects that he nearly never got the chance to meet her.
Key Insights
- The soldier learned he was having a daughter and agreed on her name over a satellite phone while deployed in a combat zone, illustrating the jarring contrast between domestic life and war.
- The unit was pinned down by fire from three separate buildings simultaneously, and the soldier did not realize all three were shooting at them until after the engagement.
- The soldier rose to one knee to get a better view in order to coordinate an air strike, a decision that exposed him to the bullet that nearly killed him.
- An AK round passed close enough to physically cut off a chunk of his hair, serving as a tangible, physical marker of how narrowly he survived.
- The soldier frames the near-miss emotionally by noting that only five hours separated the joyful phone call about his daughter from nearly dying, emphasizing he almost never got to meet her.
Topics
Full transcript available for MurmurCast members
Sign Up to Access