Guardsman Killed During Training Exercise (Pa)

[Nambe]

FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. (AP)

A .50-caliber machine gun fired accidentally during a training exercise, killing a Pennsylvania National Guard volunteer, officials said Tuesday.

Sgt. Rudolph B. Flaim, 25, was helping fellow members of the 876th Engineer Battalion load the machine gun onto a sport utility vehicle Monday when it discharged a single round.

Flaim, wounded in the right hand and shoulder, was pronounced dead at a hospital. ---

Flaim, of Jerome, near Johnstown, was exempt from the training because of extra duty he pulled in Europe as part of a security mission after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He participated anyway, Cleaver said.

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[orangecoloredapple]

1. He participated anyway

maybe for an extra dollar or two? Poor guy.

[AnnabelLee]

2. Why were they loading it

with a round chambered?:-(

[Pert_UK]

3. Why were they loading a .50 calibre into an SUV?

Odd behaviour, isn't it? Who knows...

"It is "absolutely not" Army policy to keep live ammunition in guns while they are being transported, guard spokesman Lt. Col. Chris Cleaver said."

Sounds like a tragic, avoidable accident. Sympathy to all concerned.

P.

[Mari333]

4. How horrible

My son is at 2 week Guard Duty now, and he is also 25....thats heartbreaking. A mother and father and family somewhere is having their heart broken.

[LosinIt]

5. Wounds in the shoulder and the right hand are fatal??

My extensive medical background of watching Trauma on the Learning Channel tells me that he must have died of blood loss, not a lot of vital organs in those areas.

[NickB79]

6. He was hit by a round from a .50 BMG

Those things leave NASTY wounds. I have no doubt a shoulder wound with a .50 BMG could easily be fatal. When a bullet hits, it causes hydrostatic force to develop in the fluid and soft tissue of the body that radiates away from the wound, kind of like ripples in a pond after a rock is tossed in. If the round hits with sufficient force, the shockwave alone can have enough energy to damage internal organs away from the wound site. Considering that a .50 BMG is rated as capable against light armor out to 1000 yds, it has more than enough energy to do so. Basically, it has about 3-4x as much energy as a .30-06 or .300 magnum deer rifle!