Armour saved Tern Hill soldier's life

A Shropshire-based soldier today told how he cheated death when a bullet fired by Taliban fighters bounced off his body armour.

Ranger Ryan Boyd, of 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment, said he was "lucky" to have escaped the attack with just bruising.

The soldier, based at Tern Hill, near Market Drayton, was ambushed after recently being deployed to Afghanistan.

Were it not for the side plates on his Osprey body armour, the latest type to be issued to UK soldiers, the 26-year-old said he might have died. In the attack, Ranger Boyd and his fellow soldiers managed to hold off insurgents before artillery support dropped shells on the enemy, ending the threat.

Ranger Boyd was hit by a bullet and the blow knocked him off his feet. But one of the side plates fitted to his armour absorbed the force of the shot and he was fighting again within seconds.

He said: "I feel lucky to have got out of this uninjured but I think it just shows what a fantastic piece of kit the Osprey body armour system is."

Lieutenant Colonel David Eastman, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: "Troops' equipment is improving all the time and will continue to improve as new technology becomes available."