U.S. Soldier in Iraq Saved by Bullet Proof Laptop

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/147816/us_soldier_in_iraq_saved_by_bullet.html






DISCLAIMER- This may or may not be a hoax. I was unable to confirm either way. I just know that these Toughbooks are, Well, TOUGH.

 

Totally wicked.

 

That little hole wouldn't have killed anyone maybe have just left a big bruise, probably some shrapnel hit it or just a good marketing hoax by some Panasonic sales rep. I have read that same story with different models of toughbooks inserted once it was mentioned that the CF-72 saved a soldiers life in the same way.

 

I once saw one that obviously didn't save a life - a 28 that had a bullet hole through the screen with dried blood still spattered on the unit. From the angle and it having come from a police station, it looked like a cop sitting in his car with the 28 docked had a guy come up from behind his left shoulder and shoot him in the head with the bullet going through the screen too. They didn't even clean it before they sent it for repair. Wish I had pictures of some of the really damaged stuff but that 28 was the only one I saw with a bullet hole.

 

I think you all guys need a research.

 

Well, searches for "toughbook" and "panasonic" on snopes.com came up empty, so at least it isn't a well-documented hoax!

 

Gravitar, I checked out those as well. If anyone has any link that this is a hoax please post it. As it is I will add a disclaimer for those that like to have everything verified.

 

I can attest to this. When I was in Kuwait and iraq during OIF 1. I worked for Northrop Grumman who provided cf-28 to the Marine corps for command and control via Sattelite. We had a cf-28 take bullet and the Marine survived. We sent the laptop back to Fort Hood ( where i was based out of) and they confirmed it. The laptop still worked but eventually needed a new screen is all.

 

That is seriously wicked.

 

Coz your notebook are not design for harst environment and when it fell for only,I say 5 inches, I say again bye!.. Bye! and you need a new notebook again. If it spill a drop of water(I say about just a drop) again, Bye!. Bye! LOL!

 

That's even more wicked.. the toughbook survived too!

 

Well if anything it blows the theory that they are "bullet proof" since the bullet or other projectile did in fact significantly penetrate the laptop. I am not saying this a hoax but this is how legends are made, each time the story is told it becomes much more incredible. But hey there is no doubt they are tough even though not bulletproof.

 

I'll give the dead book I've got the test once I move to Oregon, and can find a place to shoot.

I've heard the story though about the book that got hit, and it was an M34 (Google it, it's on popularmechanics.com with a picture). It makes sense because magnesium is very tough stuff, and will slow the bullet down severely. Once it goes through enough layers, it'll stop.

 

Here is another view of the same laptop:

 

It looks like it was the transflective screen, I would have shot it too.

 

Not just cuz it's a butt-uggly M34?

(No insult intended, Ohlip - I have a ThinkPad 380XD with the same disgus...err delightfully cubist design)

mnem
Surely I cannot be the ONLY one here who's noticed ohlip's avatar is that VERY laptop?

 

Ok! mne.. just becoz of you, i'm gonna change my avatar.Lol

 

*SNERK*

Ooooh... can we all help you pick one? LOL

mnem
I vote for Optimus Prime... >~~~(;

 

Depends on where you go in Oregon, I might stop and witness it. I vacation up there about twice a year. I have an AK to simulate the actual event.

 

I'll be moving to Aloha, which is near Beaverton, near Portland...

The AK sounds like fun to test on a dead book!

 

Awe come on they are bullet proof ! try it on your best CF-28 while it's on and see how many AK shots it takes to turn it off LOL

 

I think there is a range near Albany where it can be tested I'll be up that way come April. LMK maybe we could get together for coffee.

 

You could always go to China Lake Spawar testing facilities LOL or even Barry Goldwater live fire range LOL.

 

There sure seems to be a lot more people leaving MI than entering these days!

 

There sure is. I'm facing a layoff, and I can't find another job that'll even come close to paying me my measly $12 an hour I'm getting now.

All us kids without property are moving because we can

The west coast is the popular destination because it still has an economy that can sustain itself. My brother doesn't regret moving to California very much.

 

I thought I read something about a toughbook saving a soldier from a bullet before...

 

I'm not sure I would want to move to CA.. I'm convinced that MI's problem is the socialist mentality here. The majority is convinced that it is a good idea to hand over a significant portion of their earnings to the government and let the government decide the best way for it to be spent. Now, I've never been to CA but my impression of it is a full-blown communist regime.

If I were to move (a likely possibility), I think I would go down South. I'm pretty much stuck in the auto industry since that's all I know, and all the growth in US manufacturing seems to be in the southern states these days. Longer term, I think south america and asia is where it's at. There was a big write-up on the Chinese automakers in USA Today yesterday.. Once China gets established as an auto-exporting nation, kiss everything we've got here goodbye. I have no reason to believe they won't be able to do to the auto industry what they've done to every other industry they've gotten into. It's just a matter of when

 

Oregon isn't far from the Peoples Republic of Kalifornia as politics go. But the taxes are lower there than the PRK.

 

confirmed,I read about this in the army times, its from 2005. the laptop stops bullets, but is not bullet proof itself, the incident destroyed the laptop as the bullet was lodged in the hard drive

edit: small price to pay for your life however

 

The standard issue US rifle round is a .223 (5.56 mm). The most common foreign rifle round is 7.62 mm. Both are quite small...not much larger in diameter than a pencil, but obviously they are quite effective.

 

How about this: its fully loaded(stealth), gps(new engine,with active antena & ant. connector pass through the docking station as an option for optimum performance),buetooth(with LED indicator), sd card reader(builtin), wireless(builtin),dvd combo etc.. Next time you will see it is on ebay, coz i have run out of $$$. Do you want to copy that? I think so.

 

Ohlip, Where did you store the GPS antenna in that puppy? Take pictures too...

Oh, and when you sell it, let Toughbook know, so he doesn't put a GPS book up for sale (because the more on eBay at one time, the lower your overall price will be).

I've also got two that when they are done, I'm gonna throw them on eBay. I'm broke and I need to liquidate all my crap within 10 weeks. Anything that doesn't fit in my hearse before my trip to Oregon is gonna get thrown out.

 

Yah! on that puppy I just modified a bet, Sure! I'm gonna let you guys Know, but not now.I have to add more thing. With.... Same here, man! one month already no job. BTW. I just list one on ebay right now but purely barebone. Just start selling my excess parts too.

 

Ooohhh... you put the BT LED in the middle of the power switch... I like. I was thinking of modding the OEM eMail panel for that...

mnem

 

let me know what day trash day is.. i'll bring the van

 

Haha. Depending which model Mac you picked up, I might have some goodies for it. I'm taking all the old heatsinks down to Inkster in my aluminum scrap pile, but I've got a ton of other goodies laying around. Shame I already threw away half my computer parts scrap pile. Had 6 Mac motherboards, and 6 complete old Macs.

 

Is says "Power Mac 7300/200". I'm sure its old as the hills but I'm not a power user so I'm guessing it wouldn't matter!

 

I've got a processor upgrade for you then. Not sure if it still works, but it will upgrade that machine to a 350MHz G3, and it has a socket slot so you can upgrade it to even faster G3s, and dip switches to overclock..

I may have some RAM for that thing too, but that's less likely...

 

Almost forgot, it has a Sonet 400 MHz CPU in it. As far as the RAM.. Doesn't it take standard PC SDRAM? I've got lots of empty sockets to populate.. Looks like just normal PC100 RAM.

I'm itching to try out the PC-on-a-card that came with it.. If nothing else I can load windows on it and just have a funny looking PC

 

Naw, it takes older ram than that. I can't remember the chip type off the top of my head though.

I just gave away my 8500 tower with a G3 and 1GB of ram...

 

Is is MAC-specific? I'll have to pull one out and get a good look at it.

 

I think PCs may have used them some time ago, but I've only ever seen a Mac with it.

 

Well I've got some old RAM (the stuff that doesn't even say PCxxx.. just "168 pin") so i'm gonna find out!

The whole thing seems kinda wierd to me, being used to PCs. Its almost like a passive-backplane system. there's places on the motherboard for chips, but it doesn't seem like much of anything is populated! Lots of RAM sockets though, gotta love that.