He Was Shot, Given the Wrong Blood, and Still Survived

About this video

A former special forces soldier recounts being shot multiple times during a complex ambush in Afghanistan in March 2013, suffering catastrophic leg injuries and nearly dying from blood loss. He describes being given an incompatible blood type during treatment, coding multiple times, and undergoing 35-40 surgeries over several months. An orthopedic surgeon’s willingness to take risks during incremental amputations saved enough of his femur to allow him to eventually return to active duty with a prosthetic, rather than face a hip disarticulation that would have ended his career.

Key takeaways

• The guest describes violating his own security protocols by not immediately addressing a truck that entered the compound, a decision he attributes to choosing diplomacy over direct confrontation shortly before the ambush began
• After being shot in the upper thigh and recognizing his femoral artery was severed, the guest applied three tourniquets and combat gauze to his own wounds while under fire, believing he was dying but continuing to fight for survival
• Medical personnel accidentally switched blood type bags between patients, giving the guest AB negative blood when he is O positive, causing his organs to shut down—he survived only through aggressive interventions by the medevac crew
• The guest’s surgeon chose to incrementally amputate his leg over 35-40 surgeries rather than perform the recommended hip disarticulation, saving approximately 4 inches of femur that made the difference between returning to duty and medical retirement

Episode details: published November 10, 2025 · 8.5K views · 30:20 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Stories told by Mike Ritland’s podcast guests are the guests’ own accounts, attributed to them — not independently verified. Commentary is Ritland’s, presented as his analysis.

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