iPod takes bullet for US soldier

Pictures went up on photo sharing site Flickr late last week showing how an Apple iPod took a bullet for an American soldier in Iraq.

According to the accompanying text, Kevin Garrad of the Third Infantry Division was on a street patrol in Tikrit, Iraq and rounded the corner of a building just as an insurgent armed with an AK-47 came round the other side. 

In the shooting tht followed the insurgent was killed and Garrad was hit in the chest, although thanks to the iPod, he did not know about it until later.

Apparently the iPod took enough energy out of the bullet that Garrad did not know he had been hit until he took the device out later. The soldier's flack jacket actually saved his life.

It has been reported that an engineer at Apple has brought the story to the company's attention and Apple is looking to replace the soldier's damaged iPod.

The Flickr photos are available here.