True Story: On November 21, 2010, twenty-one-year-old Marine Lance Corporal Kyle Carpenter was stationed on a sandbagged rooftop outpost in Marjah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan. During an insurgent attack, an enemy hand grenade bounced onto the roof, landing directly between Carpenter and his fellow Marine, Lance Corporal Nick Eufrazio. Without hesitation, Carpenter threw his body directly over the grenade to shield his friend from the blast. The explosion shattered his body: his right eye was destroyed, his lower jaw was blown away, his collarbone and right arm were broken in dozens of places, and his heart stopped. When the medical evacuation flight landed at Camp Bastion, medics initially classified him as P.E.V. (Patient Expired Upon Arrival). He flatlined three separate times, but doctors and corpsmen refused to give up, reviving him against all odds. Carpenter was flown to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he spent roughly three years enduring 40 surgeries. Throughout his hospitalization, his mother, Robin, rarely left his side, sleeping in a chair next to his bed for months. The physical recovery was grueling, but the emotional low point came months into his rehabilitation. Carpenter was sitting up in bed attempting to eat a bowl of cereal by himself. Because severed facial nerves left his mouth and chin completely numb, milk spilled across his chest. Looking into a mirror at his altered face, he broke down weeping and asked his mother, "Who is ever going to love me again?" His mother held his face in her hands and reminded him of his faith: God had kept him alive for a distinct reason, his value was defined by his character rather than his scars, and true family and community would always love him unconditionally. Rather than turning to cynicism or viewing himself as a victim, Carpenter adopted an uncompromising mindset of gratitude, referring to the rest of his life as "the bonus round". He retrained his body, completed the Marine Corps Marathon, earned a four-year college degree from the University of South Carolina, and was awarded the Medal of Honor.