Still in the Fight: America's Most Wounded Soldier Refuses to Quit

Capt D.J. Skelton (left) with his first sergeant, Sgt 1st Class James O. Bishop at the Defense Language Institute, Monterey, CA.

The Daily Mail (U.K.) has run a story about Capt. D.J. Skelton, who was nearly killed by an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004.

Since then he has endured 60 surgeries, wears a glass eye and a prosthetic for the roof of his mouth, and has only partial use of his left arm and left ankle. Instead of asking to be medically retired, he learned Chinese Mandarin, graduated from West Point, and personally body-pierced the women's soccer team. Now he is eager to rejoin his unit (the 2nd Stryker Cavalry) in a few months.

"The body is resilient. The body is amazing," Capt Skelton said. "I can either dwell on what happened and be miserable and pissy and complain or I can look at what I do have left and figure out how to make the most of my new life... how to make what I have work while always looking for creative ways to make up the difference."