Body armor has Marine's back

Courtesy Photo | Gunnery Sgt. Sean M. Dempsey, a platoon commander from Jersey City, N.J., assigned to Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5, shows off the bullet hole in his small-arms protective insert. Dempsey was shot in the back by an insurgent and walked away with only a bruise on his back.  

GHARMAH, IRAQ

09.20.2006

Courtesy Story

I Marine Expeditionary Force

by Lance Cpl. Erik Villagran
Regimental Combat Team 5

GHARMAH, Iraq (Sept. 20, 2006) -- Gunnery Sgt. Shawn M. Dempsey is a man who will be looking over his shoulder more often.

Dempsey, a 33-year-old platoon commander from Jersey City, N.J., assigned to Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, was hit in the back with an insurgent's 7.62 mm bullet while in a cordon around a city council building in the Al Anbar Province. He is now a prime example for the importance of Marines wearing their personal protective equipment.

"We had a blocking position set up," said Lance Cpl. Christopher C. Ford, a 21-year-old machine gunner from Orlando, Fla. "Gunny was assisting a kid across the street and that's when he go hit. He fell flat on his face."

Dempsey stayed on the ground for five to 10 seconds, Ford said. Once he regained his wits, he sprung back up and took cover.

"It felt like someone kicked me real hard in the back," Dempsey said. "I thought I stepped on an improvised explosive device because I took one step and then I fell on my face."

Marines heard the gunshot and could not believe Dempsey was hit.

"I saw Gunny go down and I was instantly angry," said Lance Cpl. Christopher L. Jones, a 19-year-old mortarman from Greenville, S.C. "You watch him help a kid across a street and he gets shot. It shows how little the insurgents care."

Dempsey made his way to his humvee and immediately was looking for the shooter, he said. People in the area scattered in all directions after the gunshot and Marines could not find anyone in the crowd with a weapon.

"Everyone who didn't see what happened was confused about who got shot," Jones said. "Gunny was in the truck calling in his own medevac."

• Date Taken: 09.20.2006
• Date Posted: 09.26.2006 13:23
• Story ID: 7834
• Location: GHARMAH, IQ