Wings of a Bird

A Proud Soldier's Battle Back: "So This Is What It's Like to Get Blown up" - Seattle Times
[I'd recommend reading the whole article; here's the beginning and a couple excerpts.]
In a cramped little office near Madigan Army Medical Center's physical-therapy room, Spc. John West stares hard at a computer screen filled with an X-ray of his spine and pelvis.
It's the first time he's seen the image, dominated by the metal rods and 6-inch screws that shore up his fractured bones like girders and rebar. He is seeing his future.
...
"He is very much a glass-is-half-full person," Travers said. "He has been very positive every step of the way. It's very impressive that his enthusiasm is always there."
Much of that attitude, West said, stems from [his wife] Rebecca's rock-steady support. She sympathizes, prods and teases him. She brings him his favorite peppermint soap. She doesn't let him feel too sorry for himself.
"You're just old," she told him when he complained of fatigue. And when he complained about his trouble bending over, she said, as West laughed, "You'll have to go around saying to people, 'Will you tie my shoes, please?' "
"I have every advantage to get better quickly," he said. "She is definitely my soul mate."
...
The wounds to West's psyche emerged early.
Dr. Suzette Peng, the internal-medicine specialist who treated him at Walter Reed, well remembers West's battles ..."He thought he was in the field, even while he was awake," Peng said. "He would ask the nurses to turn off the lights so the snipers wouldn't see him." ...