“It was Cinco De Mayo, 2009, about 3 AM. We were escorting a contractor truck back to FOB (Forward operating base) Taji, we were kind of closer to Bagdad at that point. We were trying to help out an MRAP that had tipped over. We were escorting the contractor truck back and an IED roadside bomb exploded on the truck that was behind mine. I was up in the air guard hatch trying to watch to keep everyone safe. Some shrapnel that hit that vehicle must have ricocheted and hit me in the side of the face. I felt like I got hit with a sledgehammer. It resulted in it a traumatic brain injury.”
This is the first portrait that will be going towards publishing a book on combat veterans and their stories.
