The Story:
You simply cannot keep some people away from battle – despite injuries that would sideline most. Then-Warrant Officer 2 Norris was deployed to Iraq in November 2004. One month after his arrival, Norris and his gunner, Capt. Pipkin, were called in to support a unit taking fire from insurgents in Mosul. Soon after they arrived, the insurgents scattered. Instead of flying back to base, Norris and Pipkin flew their Apache back toward the center of the city in response to a tip that a vehicle-borne IED was heading toward the unit they were supporting. As they approached, insurgents on the ground began firing at the helicopter, which was hit several times by armor-piercing rounds. One of the rounds ricocheted and hit Norris’s forearm, shattering his radius. Capt. Pipkin took over the helicopter’s controls and delivered Norris safely to the Mosul hospital.
Norris wanted to return to battle, and after six operations – including a metal plate in his arm and a bone graft – and three months of therapy, he got his wish. Norris went on to support several other combat missions, including an incident in July 2005 that led to the killing of at least eight insurgents. In August 2005, he supported a U.S. Special Forces unit and Iraqi SWAT team during a night air assault near Baghdad. As the team gathered in the area, heavy ground fire erupted – but Norris’s team managed to locate and eliminate the enemies. During that engagement, Norris’s aircraft was hit and the engine severely damaged. Despite this, Norris managed to make it back to base safely. In all, he logged 470 combat flying hours.