Kenneth Sargent nearly died in a sniper attack in Najaf in 2004. A Marine master sergeant who'd been in the corps for nearly 18 years, he was on his second tour in Iraq when a sniper's bullet ricocheted off the metal hatch on his vehicle and hit him directly below the right eye, grazing the front of his brain and exiting near his left ear. He lost two inches of brain--traumatic brain injury being one of the most common medical conditions of the Iraq war--and suffered damage to his carotid artery. His jaw was shattered. In the two years since his injury, Sargent has had to relearn how to walk and talk. He has lost hearing and vision and suffers from chronic fatigue. Sargent receives constant, devoted attention from his wife, Tonia, but is often incapable of understanding the requirements of his own care. Key decisions now fall to Tonia, who fights her own battles with anger and despair. Still, being deprived of her company can cause her husband to panic. Here, in photos taken for NEWSWEEK by Charles Ommanney, is a day in the new life of Kenneth Sargent.
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