Signature Wound

Nominated for The National Magazine Awards, Public Interest category

Every war has its “signature wounds,” injuries inflicted by frightening new weapons and tactics the U.S. military has never faced before. Blistered flesh from mustard gas in World War I. Petroleum burns from oil and gas igniting on the surface of the Pacific in World War II. And now, lost legs, hands, and most devastating of all, genitals, as a result of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in today’s war in Afghanistan. Men’s Health contributing editor Bob Drury, a veteran reporter of both the Afghan and Iraq wars, delivers his most hard-hitting and important dispatch yet–the unforgettable accounts of U.S. soldiers who have suffered these very personal wounds. Their intense tales of battlefield survival are just a prologue to the unimaginable fights they face once they’re stateside. This is essential reading for truly understanding what our fighting forces put on the line–and lose–every single day.