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On Monday, the day before the president's State of the Union address, I spent an afternoon at The National Naval Medical Center's Ward 5 in Bethesda, Maryland. It's a place where wounds fresh from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan are healed. In tonight's installment of our "Coming Home" series, Ann Curry reports on the Fisher House, where many of these young men and women rehabilitate following their hospital stays.
Lance Cpl. Colt Stovall speaks with one of his doctors at The National Naval Medical Center.
During my visit, I met the young man pictured above, Lance Cpl. Colt Stovall, U.S. Marine Corps, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines Weapons Company. The 21-year-old calls himself a "gun monkey." He's a mortar man, not as big as artillery, he says, but more mobile in order to cover the advancement of his fellow Marines' backs. He served in Afghanistan from June 2005 - January 2006 and in Iraq from Sept. 11 - Dec. 14, 2006, the day he was injured in a convoy northwest of Baghdad.
What follows are snippets and photos from my conversation with Stovall in his hospital room.
Were you scared when you learned you were going to fight?
"You are scared, I mean, there are those people that say they are not and everything, but deep down they are. You are scared, but at the same time you are so gung ho to get over there and get some, it's pretty much those two feelings fighting back and forth. When you first get there, you are sitting in the truck all scared. You are still doing your job, but praying.
Tell me about the day you were injured.
"We were driving. I was the turret gunner and I'm sitting there watching and I felt fire. And the next thing I know I feel like the truck is rolling and I'm grabbing onto whatever. My eyes were barely open. I can see the gray dust and feel the shock wave and I blacked out. When I came to, I'm hanging in the dirt. The truck had rolled. I was hanging in the dirt. The Marines came and got me out and took me over to the road and put tourniquets on my legs. The doc got to me and started working on me. He patched up what he could."
Stovall's driver, his fellow Marine, was killed by the improvised explosive device (IED).
How does he deal with the relentless violence and danger?
"Yeah, once you have been to Afghanistan, you have been shot at a couple of times, you know what the feeling is, and you know how to deal with everything. You know how you react to certain situations. But at the same time, Iraq is totally a different ballgame. Afghanistan there was only five, around five IEDs that I know of that was it. I think only two of them hit our convoys. In Iraq you have IEDs everywhere. There are more of IEDs than of them actually shooting at us. They have shot mortars at us and it is no big deal. It is those IEDs, man. We actually find a lot of the IEDs. We catch a lot of the guys. Either we catch them laying the IED in or we get intel from the villagers. We get a lot of them and we find a lot of the IEDs. There are just so many and they just keep putting them in and they are waiting for us."
As we speak, Stovall is heavily medicated and at least temporarily numb to the excruciating pain in his right leg. Flying shrapnel broke it clean in two places and it took skin graphs and some bone reconstruction to get it back together. When I visited him, he had just taken a few steps with his trusty crutches. It was cause for optimism, but the swelling in his foot also worried him.
He shows me a crumpled Ziploc bag which contains his most precious items that carried him through both tours of duty. 
A picture of his beloved Brandi, a prayer cloth sent by her sister, always in his left breast pocket. "I always made sure of that," he says.
And there is a note neatly folded on a white piece of paper, a note he wrote to his fiancée. He won't disclose the contents as he chokes up.
How do you deal with death?
"I miss my friend, my family member. I guess I just kind of just bottle it up. I don't really think about it. Except for those moments that you need to mourn and then just kind of put it inside and lock it away."
He ends the conversation by saying he rarely thinks about his service in Afghanistan and Iraq. I find that hard to comprehend, until he adds:
"I think about it when I am missing my boys and thinking about them leads to thinking about that, but I don't really think about it. I mean, I'm back home and it sucks. I got hit and injured. Who am I to be back here? Why couldn't it have been someone else to come back here?"
Photo caption: Stovall's arms bear the Marine Corps motto, "Semper Fidelis" -- Always Faithful.
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Beginning with the end
Thank you for your service Colt. I appreciate all that you and your comrades in arms have done for our country.
Jerry Cooper, Frankfort, IN (Sent Apr 10, 2007 1:11:43 PM)
Colt, I met you at the gun shop in Pekin today. This great country, which I so dearly love, is so fortunate to have young men and women like you- who answer the call to defend it when threatened by those that would destroy it....Good work Marine! Thank you for your service and sacrifices that we may live the lives we lead.
Erik Shipman, Pekin, Illinois (Sent Mar 30, 2007 5:16:06 PM)
Hi Colt,
We want you to know the Prayer Partners at Trinity Lutheran are praying for you and your family. Remember, God is in control. Keep the faith!
Bob, Joyce & Robin Thompson, Pekin, IL (Sent Feb 28, 2007 6:13:49 PM)
Colt:
You are my hero. My 1st grade class at St. Joseph's School in Pekin prays for you each day. I wish I could have come to Bethesda with Mommy and Dave to see you. My class made you cards to get well. I love you Colt.
Hunter Willoughby, South Pekin, IL (Sent Feb 28, 2007 3:54:27 PM)
Dear Colt:
We love you very much. You are our hero and we are proud of you for all that you do. Your dedication helps to ensure the freedoms that we have. We pray for you each and every day.
Dad and Colette, SOuth Pekin, IL (Sent Feb 28, 2007 3:47:46 PM)
Dear Colt,
"Freedom is not Free", has been said so many times and you are living proof! We cannot ever Thank You and your comrades enough, God Bless and Keep you all.
Joseph & Jeanie Burns, Green Valley, IL. (Ret 1SG USA) Semper Fi (Sent Feb 25, 2007 7:45:55 PM)
I am so proud of you Colt. I am honored to have you serving as a soldier for this country! Were would this country be if not for you brave men and women willing to risk there life and health to protect our right to live and worship as we do! I will thank you and pray for you everyday. GOD Bless you Colt! Cathy J. Reynolds
Cathy J. Reynolds Morton, Illinois (Sent Feb 21, 2007 10:11:28 PM)
I just want to say God Bless you Colt. We are praying for your recovery.
(Sent Feb 21, 2007 9:23:25 PM)
I salute you young man! I have 6 brothers 5 of which served in United States military during Viet Nam. My thoughts and prayers are with you. I salute you again! Thank you for your service!
Most Sincerely
Clair Cook, East Peoria, Illinois (Sent Feb 21, 2007 9:32:05 AM)
If I read some of the other messages correctly I lived down the street from your grand-parents. Thank-you Marine for your sacrifice and the sacrifice of your family and Brandi. I too was a LCpl ... I served with 1stForceRecon (We kept Guantanamo Bay safe we did not know what good use it would be). May God Bless you and yours and THANK-YOU. SEMPER FI MARINE
Al Jones, Ontario Oregon ... South Pekin (Sent Feb 20, 2007 8:46:13 PM)
Colt, I am so very proud of you. Freedom is not cheap, and brave people like risk your life to provide the blanket of freedom that we all rest comfortably under.
We all owe you a debt of gratitude. Thank you for your unselfish service to our country. Your friend, Bud Glass
Bud Glass, Tallahassee, Florida (Sent Feb 20, 2007 7:27:53 PM)
I am one proud Aunt of Colt Stovall. As a mom to 5 boys myself and 2 girls I am honored they have role models like their cousin to show what true patriotism and being a hero is. He's just an every day kid but he IS our hero. Not for killing others but for doing his duty for our country and sacrificing for our freedoms. God bless you Colt and I pray for you always.
Celeste Hamilton Wyoming, IL (Sent Feb 20, 2007 6:32:59 PM)
my precious colt, i love you and appreciate all you have done for all of us.
your grandma norma stovall
(Sent Feb 20, 2007 6:20:47 PM)
I am Colt's uncle. But even if I was not, I would feel the same. May God bless ALL those who are couragous enough to stand up and protect our great country. They were not forced. They chose to do a tough job. They deserve the utmost respect and support!
John Simpson, Princeville, IL (Sent Feb 20, 2007 6:10:10 PM)
Not to downgrade this soldier, but how many innocent Iraqis faced/or face the same fate, but do not have the medical treatment afforded to this soldier? So, we are hypocrites and say "god bless you" to this young fellow, but don't care about the Iraqi deaths? After all, they are just insurgents and terrorists regardless of age, right? In his own words he states, he couldn't wait to "get some"...get some what? Couldn't wait to kill, but shed tears for him? This world is screwed up.
(Sent Jan 27, 2007 3:17:59 PM)
God bless you, LCpl Stovall, and grant you healing. We appreciate all your sacrifices to defend our freedoms and protect us.... And I agree about the telethons. My husbandI already support Fisher Houses through Soldiers' Angels (www.soldiersangels.org).
Kathy Evans, Richmond metro area, Va. (Sent Jan 26, 2007 6:24:00 PM)
Lance Cpl. Colt Stovall,may the Hand ofGod protect you and your follow Marines. May you live a long and happy life,you have earned it . I could never thank you enough for your sacrifice. GOD BLESS. Mike
James M.Wilson Dublin Ohio (Sent Jan 26, 2007 1:06:24 AM)
Brian : You and Ann Curry have enough "weight " to make a telethon for Fisher Houses to happen. Please see if you can do it. My bet is on the two of you . Good luck.
Ron Jefkins Canada (Sent Jan 26, 2007 12:44:20 AM)
I humbly add my sincere thanks to you, Lance Cpl Stovall, for so honorably serving our Country. You now must heal and regain your strength and live a complete life, worthy of your friends. Stay strong and best of luck always!
Anne Hunt, Cottonwood, AZ (Sent Jan 25, 2007 7:26:12 PM)
Dear Cpl Stovall
You are among the brave of the bravest. Thank you so much for serving. Wishing you a speedy recovery. You are in my heart and my prayers.
Geneva, Santa Cruz, CA (Sent Jan 25, 2007 7:13:56 PM)
Words cannot tell you how proud of you we are and we hope you know that God will bless you if you let Him. We know we have the finest military in the world and just wish the politicians would stay out of it and let you all do what you need to. We are praying for you and your recovery.
(Sent Jan 25, 2007 6:54:14 PM)
Semper Fi...fellow brother...get well and take care...good job...GOD BLESS and Semper Fi..
Coby M. USMC
1/7 91-04
Coby M , Chickasha, OK (Sent Jan 25, 2007 6:27:37 PM)
It is because of Marines like you that makes me incredibly proud to get up in the morning and put on my uniform identical to yours. Thank you for your continued service Marine; Semper Fidelis and I bid you God's speed with your healing process.
(Sent Jan 25, 2007 6:06:03 PM)
Marine, you did well. Marry Brandi, be happy, bring more Stovall's into the world, love them as your buddies love you. Live a good life, and remember, always, your Corps and the United States of America are proud of you and your comrades
Dennis R. O'Brien Brewster, Massachusetts (Sent Jan 25, 2007 5:50:25 PM)
Thank you Lance Cpl Stovall, and God Bless all our troops where ever they may be.
Mike
Mike V, Matawan NJ (Sent Jan 25, 2007 4:40:58 PM)
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