'Any one of those guys would love to trade with me... and have a little bit of a difficult life. They would be ALIVE'

A deadly explosion in Iraq set Bobby Henline on a path to a new life

Peter van Agtmael / Magnum for TIME

Bobby Henline in a Motel 6. Dallas, Texas, 2012.

"I had a good time in Iraq, but that last tour was a real blast. It took me four tours to realize my lucky number is 3."

On April 7, 2007, three weeks after Bobby Henline arrived in Iraq for his fourth tour, his humvee was blown up. The four soldiers with him were killed. Henline was the sole survivor of the blast from the improvised explosive device, but he was only so much luckier: bones in his face fractured, burns covered close to 40% of his body, and his left hand later had to be amputated. He spent two weeks...

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