Team Member's Toe Poppers Explode On Landing, Destroying Half His Body

What was said

"His left side of his buttocks was completely gone and his pants were burnt off down to the knee. He was in shock. I tried to stop the bleeding and I did a tourniquet and made a diaper. I crawled underneath him and put his legs over my back of my neck so I would be his diaper. That's what he brought up. I took the weight of him instead of me together on his buttocks. When they took us to Quang Tri hospital, my whole chest and pants were blood and I was not wounded."

During the May 1971 HALO jump, team member No Gas landed directly on his rucksack containing toe poppers which exploded on impact, destroying his entire left buttock and burning his leg. Trantanella rigged himself underneath Gas to serve as a human stretcher during helicopter extraction, taking the weight on his own body. Gas survived and later earned the nickname 'half-ass Gas,' eventually requesting and receiving a promotion to sergeant first class.