'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

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Peter van Agtmael / Magnum for TIME

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

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"The skin on my scalp burned off, so the doctors replaced it with my stomach. When I eat too much I get headaches."

Every comedian is trying to get a laugh, and Henline is no different. But he has a second aim, one that can offer an extra layer of meaning this Veterans Day. More than 51,000 troops were wounded in action during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Department of Defense reports. And not every scar is physical. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs' National Center for PTSD, 11% to 20% of veterans of those conflicts have experienced posttraumatic stress disorder.

"What I want to do," Henline says, "is to help more people than the guy that blew me up can hurt."

TO SEE RED BORDER FILMS' DOCUMENTARY ON BOBBY HENLINE, GO TO time.com/redborder

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