Staff Sgt. Doug Szczepanski face and the doctors who saved it

"It was far worse than he realized. He was rushed to Balad Air Base with his right ear torn off, his jaw broken, and the flesh on the right side of his face rent from the bone. Shrapnel blinded his left eye and lodged in his brain. Swollen and yellow-tinged, he scarcely looked as if he could still be alive."

Saving face
Doctors performing reconstructive surgery in theater help wounded troops heal, look better
By Kelly Kennedy - kellykennedy@militarytimes.com

Posted : Saturday Feb 2, 2008 13:54:33 EST

As Staff Sgt. Doug Szczepanski drove his commander out of Rustimiya, Iraq, on Sept. 15, 2005, his mind was on the new Taco Bell that had just opened at their destination, Forward Operating Base Taji.

“That’s all I was thinking about,” said Szczepanski, who was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 182nd Field Artillery Regiment, of the Michigan National Guard.

He never made it to his tacos; a suicide car bomber attacked his Humvee with an improvised explosive device made up of seven artillery rounds.

Somehow, no one in the vehicle was killed. But Szczepanski suffered horrific wounds — half his face was blown away.

“I went out for two minutes, and when I came to, I thought we were still going to Taji,” Szczepanski said. “I’m saying, ‘Let’s go, guys.’”

But when he reached for his M-16, he realized his thumb was gone. And his eye hurt; a piece of shrapnel had blown through it. He recalls being angry that his protective goggles hadn’t worked and were no longer on his face.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/army_reconstruct_080204w/