Kyle Carpenter was 21 years old when he decided not to think twice.
It was November 21, 2010, in Marjah, Afghanistan. A grenade landed near his fellow soldier Nicholas Eufrazio, and Kyle threw himself onto it. The explosion pierced his skull, disfigured his face, tore out one eye, and collapsed a lung. During the evacuation, his heart stopped three times. Three times, the doctors brought him back.
Then came five weeks in a coma, more than two and a half years in the hospital, and nearly 40 surgeries: they reconstructed his lung and right arm—which was broken into more than 30 pieces—fitted him with a prosthetic eye, and gave him a new jaw. When he was finally able to walk again, he was not content simply to survive: he ran marathons, went skydiving, and returned to the classroom as a full-time student.
On June 19, 2014, at the White House, President Barack Obama presented him with the Medal of Honor. Kyle became the youngest living recipient in recent history. All because of one second in which he chose another person’s body over his own.
