Then comes the sight: the gun jerking violently, smoke billowing from its tube as the crew scrambles to load the next round. Each firing left me with a dull pain in my head, like I had just gotten hit in the face. The kind of injuries I sustained don’t only occur in combat zones or with heavy weapons. For around eight years, Mr. Card spent summers working as a hand grenade instructor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Mr. Card may have been exposed to over 10,000 blasts.

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Persons: Robert Card, Card Organizations: U.S . Army Reserve, U.S . Military Academy, West Locations: Iraq, Syria, Maine