 a hot day in route on a convoy mission in Iraq. It's November, 2004, and Sergeant Lance Royce is in that vehicle. Went off about five to ten feet from the door. His Humvee was pelted with shrapnel. I was disoriented. I had trouble walking up first and everything. The truck and the crew made it back to Fallujah, and Sergeant Royce was immediately checked by medical staff. I was determined to have a moderate to severe concussion. After three days, I was released back to my unit and continued the fight. After two more months of fighting, Sergeant Royce returned home. I came back where I continued to try and work at my college, but I was having some struggles. I kept that to myself for the most part because I just thought there were migraines. I didn't think anything of it. In fact, Royce wasn't flagged until he was being screened for his next deployment. I went through and got a CAT scan MRI done. They noticed that I had a scarring on the front of my brain. Sergeant Royce started receiving treatment for his traumatic brain injury and also the OK to stay in the Army, which is good because... I had finished my college enough to drop my OCS packet, and that's why I got accepted to office of candidate school. He's now a captain and is receiving treatment for his wounds. I'm glad that the Army has finally recognized that it is a legitimate combat wound. And now the Army also recognizes it as meeting the requirements for being awarded the Purple Heart. There had always been my goal, even before I came to the Army, to become gay commission. Army Sergeant Elliot Valdez, Graphic Bureau, Germany.