Okay, so this helmet cam video was making the rounds a couple of weeks ago and even had its brief air time on the major news networks (CNN, FOX, etc).

I have seen a ton of helmet cam videos of our troops in combat overseas. Some are kinda cool but most consist of what looks like guys firing wildly into bushes. But I cringe to judge them or even make any meaningful commentary as I was not there with them and don’t know the situation at hand. Skipping ahead to my discovery of this video and I just could not help myself. Yes, it is the most anxiety-inducing footage I’ve ever seen as you can see the enemy rounds hitting around him (and one even nailing his 203 as well).

To all the new cherries in the military who find themselves overseas immediately following your initial training please take heed to this post! Here is the breakdown of what happens:

– the poor guy (thankfully he survived this nonsense) and his fellow soldiers are on the top of a hill engaging Taliban forces from the base of the hill/mountain. It’s always good to have elevation and plenty of covers when guys are below you. The shooter in the video might disagree with that assessment as the next words out of his mouth are: “Hey, I’m moving down!”

– The hooah leaves his position and takes off down the mountain by himself, taking “effective” enemy machine gun fire. He counters the enemy tactics with a forward-into-backward combat roll down the mountain. With dirt kicking up all around him from the impact of enemy rounds he decides that this might not have been the best course of action and proceeds to climb back up at a snail’s pace while every enemy fighter is actively engaging him.

– He tries to run to the nearest point of cover, which turns out to be a rock the size of a basketball (you take what you can get right?) His 203 grenade launcher takes a 7.62 round and his weapon is flung forward away from his by about 4 feet. He then yells “I’m hit!” exactly twelve times! But nobody is coming for you buddy. Blatant disregard for your own life is one thing, we commend the size of your testicles. But expecting a medic to come and save you after something like that? Don’t bet your ass on it.

All in all, I’m glad you alive man whoever you are. It’s a tough situation to be in, and you increased the level of toughness a good twentyfold. Bravery and courage are one thing, but stupidity and recklessness are another. I’m glad nobody died trying to get to you. On a side note, this is why guys should not be wearing helmet cams during high-risk activities. Just as in certain sports (skydiving and wingsuit flying), it increases the number of risks you take because you know you have a helmet cam attached to you and you try to look cool. I call this Helmet Cam Syndrome (HCS) – you heard it here first folks!

And to everybody else: keep your fucking weapon slung at all times and always make sure to see if anybody is following you when you run towards accurate machine gun fire!