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| Michael P. Murphy "Murph" |
Michael continued his rigorous training for several more years. Among the many dangerous types of SEAL training, one in particular involves shooting live ammunition and detonating live explosives. Michael was leading a group during an exercise in which they practice a type of defense called a "center peel" in which they assume a very specific formation and take turns in an organized fashion shooting live ammunition to simulate an attack...... this is what happened "When Patton began firing, Haffle stopped firing, put his weapon down on safe, got up,and turned to retreat. He was immediately hit by a .556 green-tip round from Michael Murphy's M4 and went down to the ground unable to breathe. Murphy was the first to get to Haffle. He immediately placed a trauma dressing and direct pressure over the chest wound. The bullet had pierced the right axillary artery, resulting in a tension pneumothorax (collapse lung)..... 4 weeks later after receiving 50 units of blood, completely losing function in his right arm, and nearly dying, Haffle's SEAL career was over. Michael visited his friend often and expressed extreme remorse for what had happened. It was an unfortunate accident.
The reality is, had Haffle not been permanently injured from this training exercise, he would have been with Murphy in Afghanistan and most likely killed. In some ways, Michael had save his life.
