[jsalcedo]

Army Pfc. Christopher Nauman, a son of Holly Hendrickson of Valley Park, was wounded April 7 during an eight-hour fight with Syrian mercenaries south of Baghdad. Embedded reporters said Nauman was being borne away on a stretcher when he saw a "dead" enemy soldier suddenly stir and grab for a Kalashnikov automatic rifle.

Fortunately for the Americans, Nauman still clutched the 12-gauge shotgun he had brought to Iraq for extra firepower. Nauman, 19, sat up and fired twice, killing the enemy soldier.




Two newspaper articles described the fight on Highway 8 just south of Baghdad and how Nauman killed the enemy soldier. The Sunday Telegraph of London quoted Nauman as saying: "We took some incoming. I pushed my buddy down (and) I took something in the leg myself. My buddy, he's still fighting. I dropped my M-16, but there was no way I was letting go of my
12-gauge shotgun. I was pulling security all the way back on that
stretcher. Just as well. This guy pops up four feet away. I just leaned over on the stretcher, and it was, like - boom - I got him."

The Toronto Star quoted one of Nauman's buddies, Spc. Robert Crotty, saying: "The guy's lying on a stretcher and he's still shooting! He saved our lives."

Hendrickson said knowing what's on the video still unsettles her. She said she had been worried and restless since three weeks before the war began. When her phone rang at 5 a.m., she was terrified to answer it.

"I heard his voice. Something was wrong, but I knew I was talking to him. I just started crying," she said. "I am proud of him. He did his job very well. I will keep the film, in case he wants to see it."

Reporter Tim O'Neil:
E-mail: toneil@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-340-8132

[jsalcedo]

This was a toss up between war story and gun use story
so I'll defer placement to the moderators.

I apologize in advance for any inconvenience.

[Andrew Wyatt]

i wonder what model he was using.

[Flashpoint]

Somebody has been praying for Nauman and His buddies.:D

[Preacherman]

Could we have a link for the article, please? It's always useful to cite the source.

[bigshark14]

Hey Guys- This is my first post. I just had to comment that I think that there might be news film footage of this guy shooting off the stretcher with his 12 gauge. I was out at the local range shooting last weekend and my buddy was telling me that he had seen this exact scenario. This is what he said he saw on the TC… dude wounded and on a stretcher, sits up and busts off rounds with a shotgun while his buddies carry him off the battlefield.

I really thought that he (my pal) was full of **** for almost a whole week until I just read this post. Just to clarify; I heard this exact same story last Saturday form my buddy who said he saw the whole thing play-out on Fox News late last week.

Just FYI, look for this scene on the small-screen sometime soon.

[Justin]

This was a toss up between war story and gun use story
so I'll defer placement to the moderators.

I apologize in advance for any inconvenience. Could conceivably go into the shotgun forum as well. I have no qualms with leaving it here.

[4 eyed six shooter]

Just shows why you should never leave your firearm behind.
One smart GI. God bless them all!

[jsalcedo]

Sorry the link had expired.

You may be able to get verification from the guy listed at the bottom of the article.

[DVDTracker]

You can run Windows Media Player, the do File/Open URL and paste in this URL...

mms://od-msnbc.msnbc.com/msnbc/video/100/n_white_baghdadbattle_030410.asf


The video is about 7 min long, with the guy firing from the stretcher about 5 min into it.

[Tim Burke]

Apparently someone, sometime, told him to "Stay in the fight."
And he listened.

[jsalcedo]

Overall, very powerful war footage.

The scene in question is 5:09 into the clip.

[4v50 Gary]

Good to see that we're still using that "barbaric" weapons the Germans of post WW I whined so much about at Geneva. Kudos to the soldier for staying in the fight and for saving lives.

[Standing Wolf]

Small wonder the leftist extremists want to take shotguns away from law-abiding American citizens!

[another okie]

I don't know if it's the same footage, but I saw something just like that on MSNBC or one of the cable news channels the day it happened, but I didn't notice he had a shotgun. He was a little far away. I remember the reporter who was there being asked if the soldier hit his target, and the reporter said, "Yes, he did. Twice."

[QKRTHNU]

I dropped my M-16, but there was no way I was letting go of my 12-gauge shotgun.
:D

[JeepDriver]

MSNBC was showing pics. of our guys walking around Baghdad with Benelli M4's.

Weird thing was the night before I saw that clip I watched the History Channel say we were no longer using Shotguns in the Military.

[Preacherman]

Hmmm... hit twice with a shotgun at a range of four feet. OUCH!!! :what:

[JohnKSa]

A coworker of mine was describing this to me from some footage he had seen on the tube.

Nice to know the whole story.

Maybe someone with some video capability could edit down the clip so that it's a little easier to download...

[Viking Warrior]

DVD Tracker, When I paste that into Windows media player I only get Audio?? Can you provide a link with video ?
Thanks,,..

[charlie d]

Viking,
It worked ok for me in WMP. I'm running a Mac and frequently of that kind of thing doesn't. Thanks for suggesting pasting it into WMP, I tried to open it in IE and it didn't work.

Are you on broadband? I am and it was only playing at 100kbps and still froze intermittently. Luckily it was playing when the guy on the stretcher shot.


Tracker,
Thanks for posting it.

[RustyHammer]

.... as I recall ... in the same news clip, there was another G.I. who had been shot (leg) and actually staggered away from the medic to the front of his armored vehicle to provide cover fire for them. Medic followed him, cutting open his pants leg and administering first aid while he kept on shooting!

BZ

[charlie d]

Rusty,

Thanks for posting that. It happened after the guy on the stretcher was shooting. I had stopped watching at that point. This time I watched the whole thing.

Very brave fellows!

[blades67]

That Syrian should've stayed "dead", he might've gone home alive.:evil:

[RustyHammer]

Yes, very brave.

Maybe another "greatest generation" coming of age.

[Bart Noir]

The Capt. Carter who saved the Iraqi woman, on the bridge while under fire, was featured in a big newspaper article on Sunday. It seems that at one point two Iraqi's (or whatevers) with an RPG got so close to his Bradley that he potted them with a shotgun. Interesting how much combat use the shotgun is getting.

Bart Noir
"All skill is in vain when an Angel blows the powder from the priming pan of your flintlock musket."

[Hutch]

I remember seeing the guy cut loose with two shots from the stretcher, but I had no context for it. I thought he might have simply been pissed off at something and let loose a couple. I wasn't even sure it was a shotgun, but the recoil was clearly not that of the current service rifles. Glad y'all cleared this all up. I am real surprised at the number of shotguns deployed there. Is it a given they're Benellis?

[moa]

I understand the reason for the presence of so many shotguns is for house-to-house urban fighting. They are used to breach locks on doors, etc.

The troops apparently have a unique armory and kit bag of special weapons and tools for urban combat.

Another technique for entering a building is have the Bradley AFV 25mm chain gun fire a circular pattern of explosive shells into a building's wall creating a separate entrance, thus bypassing booby-trapped and defended external doorways and windows.

[Phyphor]

You need to visit www.divx.com and download the codec pack from there, you don't have the proper video codec.

(A codec is basically a kind of program that tells Windows Media Player how to play a given video format... Unfortunately, everyone and their dog thinks that their respective video format is 'the best,' so we're stuck with having to get codecs to support them all...) :banghead: :cuss:

[Blain]

Wait a minute, wait a minute, WAIT A MINUTE!!!! I didn't think soldiers were allowed to take extra weapons, like shotguns and M14s from home? That is a main factor for many not wanting to show up! Heck, I wouldn't go unless I could bring my custom Vang Comp 12 gauge and/or my M14!!!!!!!


Somebody must have an answer for this!

[280PLUS]

who says our men (and women) have no guts for a fight?
:eek:

[Nightcrawler]

Is it a given they're Benellis?

Not by a long shot. The Marines have just recently adopted the Benelli M4 (XM1014), but previously the Mossberg 590A1 was standard. Before that, both Winchester 1200 and Remington 870 shotguns have been issued in military service. Before those, Ithaca 37s and Winchester 97s, and probably plenty others.

[larry_minn]

Wait a minute, wait a minute, WAIT A MINUTE!!!! I didn't think soldiers were allowed to take extra weapons, like shotguns and M14s from home? That is a main factor for many not wanting to show up! Heck, I wouldn't go unless I could bring my custom Vang Comp 12 gauge and/or my M14!!!!!!!


As I understand it you can NOT bring personal weapons unless you are VERY high on food chain. BUT there are specail weapons for use. Plus tons of weapons that are being found. IF I was in charge of supply unit I would put two AK-47s cleaned with loaded mag inserted and extra mags secured to outside of each truck. (in heavy sealed plastic) (heck they are destroying thousands of them) That way if attacked and driver/pass have to bail/weapons jam they can just grab a AK rip the plastic and chamber/fire.
I know a darn good officer in Tampa who will NOT use the AR series because he was issued one of the first M-16s and it jammed in humid weather. (simple problem to fix once you know cause) He grabbed a AK and used it for his tour.

[mod12]

my son just returned after 7 mos. in kuwait. army mos is armorer. i am emailing him at ft. knox to find out how many shotguns and incidence of issue there were.

[gburner]

'...I said, SHOTGUN...shoot 'em 'fore
they run son. Shoot 'em back baby!
Shoot 'em back now!'

'it is well that war is so horrible, we
would grow too fond of it.'

[Cosmoline]

I suspect American soldiers will keep using shotguns, officially or unofficially, long into the future. It reminds me of Hicks in Aliens, pulling out his ancient Ithaca 37 "stakeout" with the line "I like to keep this handy, for close encounters."

[spacemanspiff]

was this clip from early in the war? as in, the first week or so?
i recall seeing something similar, but didnt know he had hit his target, though i cant remember all the details. if its the same clip, there should also have been someone returning fire while standing next to a vehicle and a medic is trying to get him to sit down so he could field dress a wound on his leg. it was an intense scene.

[JShirley]

We have folding-stock 18" bl Mossbergs for squad leaders, here at Lewis. (They don't usually carry them, though.) The damn plastic stocks break really easily.

John

[AZLibertarian]

Am I the only guy who's still having problems getting the link to work? I keep getting...


The path to the file is not correct
Windows Media Player cannot find the file. The server name, shared directory name, or file name may be incorrect.

Check the file name and path for any misspellings or discrepancies. If this error message persists, contact your content provider for the correct location of the file you want to play.

Error ID = 0x80070002, Remedy ID = 0x00000000

Mostly technically challenged.

[hso]

Toronto Star excerpt -

"There was Pte. 2nd Class Christopher Nauman, with a bullet in his knee, shrapnel in both legs and an IV hanging out of his arm, being carted off on a litter, his gun still in his hands because the medics had nowhere to put it. "We'd gone under the bridge to get him," says Specialist Robert Crotty. "I remember, he was our third casualty of the fight. We didn't have anywhere to put his weapon so he said, here, I'll carry it."

That's when Nauman spotted one of the enemy combatants — who they all thought was dead — stir and reach for his Kalashnikov. "This f------ guy's still alive!" Nauman hollered.

"For a second, we thought he was surrendering," Crotty continued. "But hell no. He was going to shoot us. But Nauman got his weapon up first and — Bang! Got him. I mean, the guy's lying on a stretcher and he's still shooting! He saved our lives."

At the other end of the litter, Sgt. Mica Phelps didn't know what was going on. "I'm thinking, didn't we get all these guys? Why are they still shooting? But they just kept coming at us in waves. All I kept saying to myself was: We be dead, we be dead."
"

Just search Yahoo for Christopher Nauman and you'll get seveal links to articles to choose from. Pitty the video isn't available.

[ShaiVong]

Link wont work for me either:(