Returning from Iraq, the Damage Done

Sam Ross AGE 21; DUNBAR TOWNSHIP, PENNSYLVANIA

Paratrooper and combat engineer in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. Injured May 18, 2003, in Baghdad, when a bomb blew up during a munitions-disposal operation.

I lost my left leg, just below the knee. Lost my eyesight, which it's still unsettled about whether it will come back or not. I have shrapnel in pretty much every part of my body. Got my finger blown off—it don't work right. I had a hole blown through my right leg—had three skin grafts to try and repair it. It's not too bad now. It hurts a lot, that's about it. You know, not really anything major. Just little things. I have a piece of shrapnel in my neck that came up through my vest and went into my throat and it's sitting behind my trachea, and when I swallow, it kind of feels like I have a pill in my throat. I never had a health problem my entire life. Now I'm going to be seeing doctors every couple of months for the rest of my life. I just went and got fitted for my hearing aide. I've had 15 surgeries and at last 5 more to go. I ask myself that all the time, Why didn't I die because in a sense. You know, I think I should have. It was the best experience of my life. Twenty-one years old and I've seen a couple of countries. I've been pretty much everywhere and done everything. I've jumped out of airplanes, I got to play with mines, got to see how the Army works. I got to interact with people of another culture, people who live their lives 100 percent different than the way we live here. That's something that one in a million people will ever get to see in their lifetime—another culture. After high school I was kind of like undecided on what I wanted to do in life. And I went to Texas for a while and stayed with one of my aunts who lives down there. I got a job but got bored with the life. I worked in a machine shop. $27 an hour, more than I make now. It was a good job, right out of high school. Everybody's dream job, but it was kind of boring just standing there all day. I always thought I could do a little bit more than just stand there. So I came back home and joined the army. I want to go into politics. Run for office, maybe.