EUROPE — An American soldier deployed to Europe is being praised for severing his own leg in order to save the lives of his teammates.<br /><br />According to the Department of Defense, 20-year-old Specialist Ezra Maes was asleep in his M1A2 Abrams tank during a joint training mission with his crew members when the tank suddenly started heading downhill.<br /><br />He called out to the driver but he told Ezra it wasn't him. The tank's parking brake had failed.<br /><br />The team later found out that the brakes weren't functioning due to a hydraulic leak.<br /><br />The tank crashed into an embankment and Ezra, the loader on the tank's 120mm main cannon, ended up getting his leg stuck in the turret gear of the vehicle.<br /><br />He looked around and saw his crew members in pain and all he knew was that he wanted to help them.<br /><br />Ezra said he pushed and pulled at his leg as hard as he could until he felt a sharp tear. His leg was gone. He tried to get himself to the back of the tank to get hold of a tourniquet from the medical kit but started feeling dizzy. He used his belt instead.<br /><br />He tried to get one of his crew members to radio for help, unfortunately it wasn't working.<br /><br />Though Ezra's phone had survived the accident. A crew member passed it to him and Ezra reached out for help.<br /><br />A helicopter rushed them to a medical center in Germany.<br /><br />Ezra is now going through physical therapy in the U.S. and plans to receive a long-term prosthetic leg in the future.<br /><br />The now 21-year-old still has a positive attitude despite all he has gone through and explained that he feels "super lucky," even though he had to initially spend four months in intensive care.
