iPod saves soldier's life - well, not quite ...

From the Stories-Get-Distorted desk — attention: N.T. Wright:

A tale (with photos) has been making the rounds about a U.S. soldier in Iraq who was shot in a gunfight. According to the story, the soldier's iPod, in his jacket pocket, "slowed the bullet down enough that it did not completely penetrate his body armor. Fortunately, Kevin suffered no wound."

Except it turns out that's not quite how it happened: the body armor is what actually stopped the bullet after all. The soldier's first clue that he'd been shot was when he put his earbuds in afterwards but didn't get music.

It's funny how, as stories travel, they sometimes mutate into versions that seem more fitting or appealing. This particular mutation, in the age of the Internet, was quickly corrected, but only because the story's poster was able to contact the soldier in Iraq.

Comments

[V Knutsen]

False stories can quickly make the rounds. That's why it's important to verify stories, as Luke did.

But true stories can quickly make the rounds also. Again, stories need to be verified.

[D. C.]

Agreed, it's important to verify stories, but that doesn't mean we should take it for granted that Luke did a competent job of that. We don't know whom he talked to, nor what prior documentation he might have reviewed.

[The Patriarch of the West]

The Civil War was filled with stories of bullet stopping Bibles. Is there an equivalency between the Bible and the I pod?