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SSG Fields was cut down by an NVA machine gun about 10 yards from me on 30 Sept. 1970. I watched him bleed out from a .51-cal. wound in his carotid artery as I lay there pinned down. We eventually drove the NVA off and when it was over, I opened my rucksack after discovering several machine-gun rounds had hit it while on my back. One penetrated the ammo can I kept shaving gear and personal items in, destroying my Instamatic camera and a can of shoving cream. I also discovered a 7.62 round that penetrated the explosive charge of a hand grenade in my ruck and stopped short of the fuse. I was carrying four loose hand frags, four star cluster flares and four smoke grenades, plus three claymore mines and 30 extra rounds of 40mm HE in my ruck. I was wearing a 24-round 40mm vest, had three clay more bags with 18 rounds of 40mm HE slung over my hips and under my left arm, and had two belts of M60 ammo and two bandoliers of M16 ammo strapped to the top of my ruck and an HE 81mm mortar round slung underneath. Suffice it to say, if that bullet had hit the fuse . . .