G.I., Impaled by Grenade, Lives to Tell the Tale

This may be the craziest story I've heard out of Afghanistan, yet.

March 16, 2006. Southeastern Afghanistan. A fierce ambush and bloody firefight. It was over in a flash and Spc. Channing Moss was left on the verge of death.

He was impaled through the abdomen with a rocket-propelled grenade, and an aluminum rod with one tail fin protruded from the left side of his torso.

His fellow soldiers worried: Could he blow up and take them with him? For all anyone knew, the answer was yes.

Still, over the course of the next couple of hours, his buddies, a helicopter crew and a medical team would risk their own lives to save his.

The – video – complete with footage from the RPG-dectomy – is absolutely priceless.

"You treat him like he's going to blow up," remembers combat surgeon Major John Oh. "I was scared shitless, basically. I had never been so scared in my whole life... Then you look at the guy, and you think, 'There's no way I'm going to let this guy die.'"

UPDATE: That'll hurt, too.

(High five: Ares)