We know the iPhone has changed the world, but it has also saved a life. Alaska based soldier Joel Stubleski had his iPhone to thank when he was shot in the thigh on duty in Afghanistan. The iPhone deflected the bullet enough so that it didn’t femoral artery, which would have meant certain death, KTVA Alaska reports (via The Loop).

KTVA:

Once he knew what had happened, he took cover and waited. A fellow soldier put the tourniquet he kept in his pocket around his leg. Stubleski waited. While he waited, he thought, “Is this it? If it is, there’s nothing I can do — at least I went out doing what I was supposed to do.” He was bleeding and, he said, he started feeling tired. “I kept telling myself, don’t close your eyes.”

After helicopters picked him up, medics inspected his injuries. They cut off his clothes and went through his pockets. There, they found his iPhone — with a bullet hole through it. “The medics would come up to me and say, ‘this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.’”

It’s a pretty amazing story, and for good luck Stubleski got a case made for his new iPhone with an image of the old iPhone on the back.

While it could have been a lot worse, it did mean he had to return to base early. He keeps fit at the gym on post, even though Stubleski says that his leg still does sometimes ‘give out’ on him when skateboarding or running.