He joined the Army about 4 years ago. I was very impressed as I wanted to join the Marines but decided not to. Thats another story though.

Anyhow he has been in Iraq almost the entire time hes been serving.

He is a Humvee driver mostly during the night with nightvison and all the lights off. He doesnt tell me much as he doesnt like to talk about it.

Hes has been "blown up" as he calls it a total of 9 times now. I asked him what that meant since hes still alive and he said that his Humvee was hit enough that it was no longer able to drive. Thats what blown up means to him.

He was lucky enough 8 times out of 9 not to be hurt. The 9th time 1500 lbs of explosives went off that were barried underground. He had shrapnel (spelling) right between his eyes, a piece in his ass, colapsed his lung, broke his ankle and was burned in some places. He had a huge ugly scar next to his armpit where they stuck something in there to fix his lung.

He told me hes getting out as soon as his time is up. I asked him why and he said he was lucky he didnt die. He told me with a tear in his eye at Christmas that he doesnt want to die.

Kinda chokes me up to hear all this from him. I dont know how to feel about the whole war thing. I know Im proud of my brother though. Hes 21 and has a Purple Heart.