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12 Mar 10
While under fire from the enemy, a soldier from 3 RIFLES recently picked up a live Taliban hand grenade and threw it back at them in an attempt to save himself and his comrades.
Rifleman James McKie with blood on his face and clothes from a wound sustained after throwing a Taliban hand grenade back at the enemy
[Picture: Cpl Tim Hammond, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
Rifleman James McKie from Recce Platoon, 3rd Battalion The Rifles (3 RIFLES), was under fire from three directions when the hand grenade hit his Platoon Commander and landed at his feet. He said:
"My first thought was I hope this doesn't hurt too much. That, and I've really only got one chance to do this. If it fails, either way, doing nothing, I'm going to get the same amount of hurt. So I picked it up and threw it off the roof."
The actions of Rifleman McKie helped to save the lives of his commander and one other soldier who were engaging the enemy in a fire fight from a compound roof in the Sangin area of Helmand province. He continued:
"The fire was disciplined and accurate. I managed to spot one of the firing points and I engaged with my GPMG [general purpose machine gun] to suppress the enemy.
"After a few minutes they stopped firing and we continued observing to the east. It must have been no more than five minutes and then I heard what sounded like a mini-flare come from our right where I knew there were none of our guys, so I thought this was really unusual.
"It was actually the fly-off lever of a grenade that had been thrown from the alleyway below."
Rifleman McKie sustained fragmentation injuries to his right arm and face as the grenade exploded mid-air, close to where he stood.
Fragmentation also hit his Platoon Commander, Captain Graeme Kerr, who sustained injuries to his leg and is recovering at Selly Oak Hospital in the UK:
"We were in a high position on a compound roof. There was no way you could throw yourself off and not get injured, so I made a decision to pick up the grenade and throw it off the roof," said Rifleman McKie.
"And I threw it quite deliberately. I tried to throw it properly, to clear the roof. I didn't want to do it half-arsed and have them throw it back at us or anything like that.
"I remember thinking that if I didn't pull this off, it was going to hurt. But at that stage I was pretty much committed.
Rifleman James McKie, his wounds patched with plasters
[Picture: Cpl Tim Hammond, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
"My platoon has taken a lot of casualties. I really didn't want to see anyone else get hurt. So I committed to that course of action.
"It was dropping down into the alleyway before it detonated. As I continued to watch it, as you are trained to, I received fragmentation in my face and right arm. Because of the way Captain Kerr was positioned, he got a larger piece of fragmentation in his left leg, but otherwise no-one else was seriously hurt."
Rifleman McKie then threw smoke to cover their withdrawal and with Captain Kerr and his section, withdrew, firing and manoeuvring until they reached the safety of another compound.
Captain Kerr was immediately evacuated by helicopter, but Rifleman McKie was able to continue in his duties until the following day when he was evacuated to Camp Bastion, despite his protests to stay:
"In retrospect, people keep telling me how brave I am, which I'm slightly embarrassed about," he said.
"I'd like to think that anyone in that situation would have done the same or something similar because you can't just sit there and let yourself or other people get hurt.
"I don't feel particularly brave. I thought, 'I have to do this to survive'. Not just for myself but for the guys around me as well. I'm not expecting anything from them, I don't want any thanks from them, I just don't want them to get hurt."
Rifleman McKie joined the British Army only recently, having previously served in the New Zealand Army:
"I love soldiering," he said. "I love being here in Afghanistan. Obviously bad things happen and I can't go back and change it, but what I can do is try and stop things happening around me.
"As far as the military experience goes, this is the ultimate for a career soldier."
This reminds me of an incident that happened at Airborne Forces Depot some years after my time there. When learning to throw a live grenade we used to stand in a chest deep spacious pit lined with old railway sleepers, a Plt Cpl with us to talk us through it. On this occasion a young recruit had pulled the grenade and pin apart vigorously and as his right hand went back it was impaled on an old nail sticking out of a sleeper, sticking him in place and causing him to drop the grenade. With only a 5 yo 7 second fuse in the grenade the cpl threw himself across the recruit and took the full force of the grenade which killed him instantly.
I don't think he got a medal but his story still serves to keep his memory alive.
While under fire from the enemy, a soldier from 3 RIFLES recently picked up a live Taliban hand grenade and threw it back at them in an attempt to save himself and his comrades.
Rifleman James McKie with blood on his face and clothes from a wound sustained after throwing a Taliban hand grenade back at the enemy
[Picture: Cpl Tim Hammond, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
Rifleman James McKie from Recce Platoon, 3rd Battalion The Rifles (3 RIFLES), was under fire from three directions when the hand grenade hit his Platoon Commander and landed at his feet. He said:
"My first thought was I hope this doesn't hurt too much. That, and I've really only got one chance to do this. If it fails, either way, doing nothing, I'm going to get the same amount of hurt. So I picked it up and threw it off the roof."
The actions of Rifleman McKie helped to save the lives of his commander and one other soldier who were engaging the enemy in a fire fight from a compound roof in the Sangin area of Helmand province. He continued:
"The fire was disciplined and accurate. I managed to spot one of the firing points and I engaged with my GPMG [general purpose machine gun] to suppress the enemy.
"After a few minutes they stopped firing and we continued observing to the east. It must have been no more than five minutes and then I heard what sounded like a mini-flare come from our right where I knew there were none of our guys, so I thought this was really unusual.
"It was actually the fly-off lever of a grenade that had been thrown from the alleyway below."
Rifleman McKie sustained fragmentation injuries to his right arm and face as the grenade exploded mid-air, close to where he stood.
Fragmentation also hit his Platoon Commander, Captain Graeme Kerr, who sustained injuries to his leg and is recovering at Selly Oak Hospital in the UK:
"We were in a high position on a compound roof. There was no way you could throw yourself off and not get injured, so I made a decision to pick up the grenade and throw it off the roof," said Rifleman McKie.
"And I threw it quite deliberately. I tried to throw it properly, to clear the roof. I didn't want to do it half-arsed and have them throw it back at us or anything like that.
"I remember thinking that if I didn't pull this off, it was going to hurt. But at that stage I was pretty much committed.
Rifleman James McKie, his wounds patched with plasters
[Picture: Cpl Tim Hammond, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]
"My platoon has taken a lot of casualties. I really didn't want to see anyone else get hurt. So I committed to that course of action.
"It was dropping down into the alleyway before it detonated. As I continued to watch it, as you are trained to, I received fragmentation in my face and right arm. Because of the way Captain Kerr was positioned, he got a larger piece of fragmentation in his left leg, but otherwise no-one else was seriously hurt."
Rifleman McKie then threw smoke to cover their withdrawal and with Captain Kerr and his section, withdrew, firing and manoeuvring until they reached the safety of another compound.
Captain Kerr was immediately evacuated by helicopter, but Rifleman McKie was able to continue in his duties until the following day when he was evacuated to Camp Bastion, despite his protests to stay:
"In retrospect, people keep telling me how brave I am, which I'm slightly embarrassed about," he said.
"I'd like to think that anyone in that situation would have done the same or something similar because you can't just sit there and let yourself or other people get hurt.
"I don't feel particularly brave. I thought, 'I have to do this to survive'. Not just for myself but for the guys around me as well. I'm not expecting anything from them, I don't want any thanks from them, I just don't want them to get hurt."
Rifleman McKie joined the British Army only recently, having previously served in the New Zealand Army:
"I love soldiering," he said. "I love being here in Afghanistan. Obviously bad things happen and I can't go back and change it, but what I can do is try and stop things happening around me.
"As far as the military experience goes, this is the ultimate for a career soldier."
This reminds me of an incident that happened at Airborne Forces Depot some years after my time there. When learning to throw a live grenade we used to stand in a chest deep spacious pit lined with old railway sleepers, a Plt Cpl with us to talk us through it. On this occasion a young recruit had pulled the grenade and pin apart vigorously and as his right hand went back it was impaled on an old nail sticking out of a sleeper, sticking him in place and causing him to drop the grenade. With only a 5 yo 7 second fuse in the grenade the cpl threw himself across the recruit and took the full force of the grenade which killed him instantly.
I don't think he got a medal but his story still serves to keep his memory alive.
