Oopsie

Yup, an accidently self-inflicted wound. As he set the butt of his rifle on the ground, it discharged a round up into his armpit and out the top of his shoulder. Fortunately, no artery or nerve damage; only broke a piece of shoulder blade. He is extremely lucky and should have near full use of his arm in a couple of months. We had safety (duh, yeah!) pounded into us about our weapons, and so-called "negligent discharges" are extremely rare in US military. This will definitely send the message to the Afghan recruits. At least he correctly made sure his weapon was never pointed at anyone else, the first rule of weapon safetly. It reassures me that this is the first one we have seen in the nine months here, and we are on a basic-training base. Repeat after me: safety on, magazine out, chamber clear, safety on.