The Damage Done:
"Alan Jermaine Lewis
AGE 23; MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN
Machine gunner in the Army's 3rd Infantry Division. Wounded July 16, 2003, in Baghdad, when the Humvee he was driving hit a land mine.


I remember every detail about my legs. Every detail from the scars to the ingrown toenails to the birthmarks to the burn marks. I made it a habit, even before I joined the military, to cherish every part of my body, because I would always look at it like, 'What if this finger was gone, would I be able to function without it?' I don't know why. Maybe it was God's way of preparing me for what was going to happen."

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/03/03_100-7.html