MacDill EOD sergeant to be awarded Purple Heart

  • Published
  • By Nick Stubbs
  • 6th AMW Public Affairs
MACDILL AFB, Fla --  It's what every explosive ordinance disposal servicemember dreads. Strangely, when the improvised explosive device he was disarming blew up in his face during his second deployment to Iraq last year, Staff Sgt. Nicholas Last, a member of the 6th Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team, didn't even realize it. 

"I didn't know what happened," he said. "Then it starts to sting and you realize what just happened and it doesn't feel good." 

The blasting cap explosion was ignited by an enemy insurgent waiting nearby for his opportunity to pull the remote trigger, and when he did the result left Sergeant Last with shrapnel in his legs and hearing loss in one ear. Sergeant Last will get a Purple Heart Medal. The bomber got shot. 

It could have been a lot worse, said Sergeant Last. A blasting cap is not as lethal as other explosives, though it certainly was enough to get his attention. 

"It's not something you want to be close to (when it goes off)," he said, adding that with possible exception of his hearing, there should be no long-term health impacts. "It made me mad more than anything." 

Sergeant Last will be receiving a Purple Heart Medal for his injuries at an upcoming commander's call ceremony at MacDill. 

He says he's ready to go back to Iraq (possibly next year) and despite his misfortune, is happy to get back on the job disarming IEDs. 

"I enjoyed my time there, doing the mission," said Sergeant Last. "I'm looking forward to getting back out and doing it again." 

It's not the case for everyone after surviving a close call with an explosion, but Sergeant Last said he is taking it in stride as part of the job. 

"I look at it as something that happens," said Sergeant Last, who first deployed with Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. "It's hard for some people to handle it after something like that, but in my case I am ready to jump back in." 

It was the first time Sergeant Last was injured while on duty, though he had some other close calls, including an incident when the Humvee he was riding in ran over an IED. There was another close call experience in which an insurgent he could see nearby the IED he was working on pulled a detonation trip wire to explode it. Fortunately for Sergeant Last, the wire was not connected properly. 

Even though he escaped injury in both of those and other incidents, he considers them worse than the explosion that injured him. 

"Those were potentially worse because the consequences could have been worse," said Sergeant Last.