1
00:00:00,760 --> 00:00:02,440
- I was sitting a little
lower in the turret

2
00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:05,130
than I normally do and because of that,

3
00:00:05,130 --> 00:00:09,840
when we we hit our IED, I
went backwards instead of up

4
00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:14,590
and basically what happened
is my vertebrae here

5
00:00:14,590 --> 00:00:17,400
and my vertebrae here kinda
pinched the one in the middle

6
00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:22,360
which gave me a wedge
compression fracture.

7
00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:25,040
- And me and Justin looked at each other

8
00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:27,530
and we knew we were about to take fire.

9
00:00:27,530 --> 00:00:29,490
So shots started ringing out

10
00:00:29,490 --> 00:00:31,400
from a couple hundred meters away.

11
00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:34,350
I thought I'd got shot in
the SAPI plate at first,

12
00:00:34,350 --> 00:00:35,883
just thought I had the
wind knocked down from me

13
00:00:35,883 --> 00:00:38,360
'til we hopped back down into a ravine

14
00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:40,740
and we're returning fire and I looked down

15
00:00:40,740 --> 00:00:43,470
and saw blood coming out
and I was like, "Oh."

16
00:00:43,470 --> 00:00:45,980
Big thanks to all the families.

17
00:00:45,980 --> 00:00:48,190
You know, there's a
lotta Gold Star spouses.

18
00:00:48,190 --> 00:00:51,670
I think of Andrea Lasher who's...

19
00:00:55,850 --> 00:00:57,550
You know, she's had to raise a boy

20
00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,630
the last 11 years 'cause his dad

21
00:01:02,630 --> 00:01:05,680
was one of the first
KIA on that deployment.

22
00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:08,840
Big thanks to all the
families and the wives

23
00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:13,720
and the spouses and the kids
who have sacrificed so much.

24
00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:16,637
(melancholy music)