Astonishing survival of soldier with unexploded bomb wedged INSIDE his stomach after Afghanistan ambush

Private Channing Moss, 23, was in armoured car hit during missile attack



Rocket-Propelled Grenade entered one hip and poked out through the other

Helicopter rescue team not told of live grenade for fear they wouldn't come

Medics couldn't restart Moss' heart with CPR as it would detonate bomb

Bomb disposal expert had to remove RPG before surgeons could operate



Remarkable man: Private Channing Moss has recovered after having an unexploded RPG stuck in his stomach following an ambush in Afghanistan

A U.S. soldier has told the astonishing story of how he survived being impaled by an unexploded bomb which became lodged in his abdomen during an ambush in Afghanistan.



In a moment of incredible human triumph, Private Channing Moss, 23, has walked to the podium to collect various awards including the Purple heart and the Medal of Valor since recovering from his ordeal .



Private Moss was on patrol in Paktika Province in Eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, March 16, when his unit was attacked - likely by Al Qaeda or Taliban insurgents - in a mountainous region bordering Pakistan.

Around 24 men from the 10th Mountain Division's Alpha Company were driving a convoy of five Humvee armoured vehicles and a pick-up truck, containing Afghan National Army troops, when they were hit first by gunfire and then by a hail of rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).



The pick-up truck exploded, killing two of the Afghan soldiers, and as the rockets struck Moss' Humvee, the gunner recalls being thrown against the wall of the vehicle.

'I smelled something smoking and I looked down... and I was smoking,' he told ABC News in a documentary.



The team called for medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) via a helicopter based at Salerno, Afghanistan, but did not tell the crew that Moss had a live RPG lodged in his abdomen for fear that the crew would not want to transport him.

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Lodged inside him: This is an X-ray of the unexploded RPG stuck inside Moss' abdomen Reunited: The surgeons Major John Oh and Major Kevin Kirk with Moss and his family shortly after both of them returned from service in Afghanistan Rocket-propelled grenades: These are RPGs similar to the one that struck Moss, though the warhead in question also had metal fins at the base

An RPG, a mini-missile around the length of a cricket bat, had entered through one of Moss' hips and its tip - a large grenade - was protruding from his opposite hip.

Somehow it had not detonated on impact, but if it exploded it would kill everyone in a 30ft radius.



In the first of two major strokes of luck, the convoy's only medic, Jared Angell, was in the vehicle with Moss and able to treat him immediately, bandaging his wounds and stabilising the RPG to ensure it didn't move around.



Before the ambush: Moss, second to right, with some of his team members from 3rd Brigade, Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry, 10th Mountain Division

Majors Oh and Kirk in surgery together at the basic field hospital operating theatre at the Orgun-E base in Afghanistan

The Black Hawk helicopter had to wait for the fighting on the ground to cease before they could land, which meant a long delay taking Moss outside of the 'Golden Hour' for trauma treatment that saves so many lives.



When the helicopter landed the crew could see immediately what had happened to Moss and knew that he should not be rescued.

The U.S. Army policy in such a situation states Moss should not have been transported because it could lead to the death of the four MEDEVAC crew members, three other wounded soldiers and the loss of a helicopter.



However, the flight crew conferred and all agreed to take Moss,



The Black Hawk crew flew him to the nearest field hospital at the Orgun-E base, but again the crucial unexploded detail of his injury was omitted.



Daddy's home: This photo, taken four months after the ambush, sees Moss cradling daughter Ariana, who was born soon after he came home, and with wife Lorena and eldest daughter Yuliana

Once at the hospital the medical team, led by surgeons Major John Oh and Major Kevin Kirk, were confronted with the wound.



'It had fins coming out of the left side of his body and had a big bulge in the front of his right thigh,' said Maj. Kirk.



Again, U.S. Army policy states that Moss should not be operated on because of the risk to medics and other patients.



One of many: Moss was awarded the Medal of Valor by the Hall County Sheriff's Department in Georgia

Moss' second major stroke of luck came when a bomb disposal expert, Staff Sgt. Dan Brown, was on the base.



Brown explained the possible scenarios to the medical team, including the possibility that they could all become 'pink mist' if the grenade exploded, and they agreed to treat him



By this point Moss' heart had stopped due to massive blood loss and the medics had to administer epinephrine to restart the organ before they could operate.



Sgt. Brown used a hacksaw to remove the RPG's tail fins and very slowly eased the rocket back out through the entry wound.



Brown then walked the unexploded bomb out of the operating theatre to a bunker and detonated it.



Moss was transferred to hospitals in Afghanistan and Germany en route to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC, where he was reunited with his wife Lorena and his daughters Yuliana and Ariana, now six and four.



Moss' internal organs were severely damaged and he had suffered a shattered pelvis, leaving him unable to walk.



He had four major operations and years of gruelling physiotherapy that took him out of a wheelchair, onto a walking frame, and then to walking with a cane.



But Moss' determination allowed him to walk to collect his purple heart.



'I wanted to walk and get my medal, I wanted to stand up, to let them know I fought hard to get where I came from,' he said.



Moss has now recovered well enough to attend college in Georgia.

