FORT BELVOIR, Va. – Staff Sgt. Bryan McQueen was nearing the end of his tour in Afghanistan with the 1st Security Forces Assistance Brigade on Sept. 3, 2018. He, his fellow soldiers and nearly 50 Afghans were headed to a security meeting, as routine as any other daily assignment.
Machine gun fire erupted.
McQueen felt what he could later only describe as a horse kick to the back of his head and he fell flat to the ground, landing on his face.
But in seconds he was on his feet with a simple question.
“Did these (expletive deleted) really just shoot me in the head?” he said.
What he would learn a short time later was that two rogue Afghan police within the formation had planned an attack once the group reached a vulnerable choke point. One opened fire with a Russian PK machine gun while another aimed to take out as many soldiers as possible with his AK-47.
Afghan soldiers captured the two attackers and they now face a trial for murder and attempted murder.
The 7.62x54mmR round from the truck-mounted machine gun struck the back of McQueen’s helmet, shredding some of the materials but not penetrating the shell.
This week that same helmet, bisected and mounted on a plaque with McQueen’s name and the appropriate unit coinage, was presented to him here at a Personal Protective Equipment soldier return ceremony.
The ceremonies are conducted through congressional authorization to return the property to soldiers who were wounded once the service branch has completed its analysis of the equipment. The returns began in 2013. The last public ceremony for such a return was held in 2016. Since the inception of the program there have been 35 PPE returns to active duty soldiers. Current efforts are underway to allow for damage PPE to be returned to wounded veterans who used the gear.
For many years defense researchers and protective equipment programs have retrieved items such as body armor and helmets damaged by enemy fire on the battlefield for forensic analysis to improve current and future gear.
Brig. Gen. Anthony Potts, head of Program Executive Office Soldier, called the ceremony a chance to see the effect of the work that equipment programs do.
“The significance, in my mind, is for us as a family, it completes the circle,” Potts said.
