injuries. but what happened to one lance corporal made my jaw drop. how does anyone survive having a rocket-propelled grenade being shot into their body? here s correspondent barbara starr. reporter: marine corporal perez know the rocket-propelled grenade was coming right at him. all of a sudden, just, i just saw the rpg coming towards me, and it hit me, and you know, i was hit and my boys, they knew exactly what to do and they came down, no hesitation, no nothing, and they picked me up, got me to safety. reporter: winder perez had a live, foot-long, rocket-propelled grenade embedded in his left side, but even so, he kept his cool. i tried to call in my own medivac, but u couldn t because my radio, the rpg had struck the battery in my radio. reporter: plain words from this baseball-loving 23-year-old native of the dominican republic. perez and his fellow marines knew the rpg could explode at any minute, but they also knew he needed medical help as soon as possible.