OK, this sounds like kind of a stretch, but you gotta have faith - right?

Local Soldier In Iraq Saved By Metal Cross

"It was devastating to hear your son has been shot and was in an explosion," said Chris Green, Kyle's mother. She was first to hear about his ordeal when he stumbled upon what he thought was a cell phone on patrol in Baghdad last week.

"He said when he tossed it, it exploded and threw him back 20 feet and 10 feet in the air. When he was airborne that is when he was shot in the left leg," Chris said.

But when the bullet ripped through his fatigues, it suddenly stopped: deflected away by a metal cross Kyle had with him. "He tied it to his dog tags, which were tied to the belt loop in his pocket," Chris said.

Had that location been any different, the member of the 101st Airborne's Screaming Eagles likely would be dead.

"Where it was in his pocket, it was right around the main artery."