Soldier Was Shocked When His Taliban Gunfight Video Went Viral

We received a phone call Thursday afternoon from a "15-year veteran" of the Army infantry and "close friend" to Ted Daniels, the actual soldier in the helmet-cam video that's gone viral achieving more than 21 million YouTube hits.

The caller offered Daniels' identity and said if there was anyone Daniels talks to, it should be us.

The infantry soldier said Daniels was part of Ft. Carson's 4th Infantry Division, and that we should call the Public Affairs Officer (PAO) there and try to arrange an interview.

He said Daniels had in fact been hit a total of four times, but that his worst injury came from the fall (recorded early in the video), in which he sustained a severely broken ankle. Daniels has since been awarded the Purple Heart.

He said that Daniels never expected the video to go viral, and that the Army public affairs officers (PAOs) "were quite aware" of the national media interest in Daniels' story. "CNN, NBC, all the big ones" were contacting the Army, requesting the identity and interviews with Daniels.

We called the PAOs on Carson and received no reply, but we did find Daniels' Facebook page. We contacted him via Facebook and he got back to us, saying he hadn't been cleared to talk to the press yet.

We initially didn't publish his name because we first wanted to be able to interview him, but since then other news outlets have published his name and unit.

In the meantime check out the numerous and insightful pictures of Daniels on Facebook. They offer a glimpse into who the man behind the heroic actions truly is.

And take solace in the fact that regardless of how badly injured Daniels was, he's well enough to accept friend requests and respond to Facebook messages.

Here's the video that started it all:

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