On the first of two deployments to Iraq, former Army trauma medic Shaw Sears suffered a severe concussion when the convoy vehicle in front of his hit an IED. Despite his own injury from the blast, Sgt. Sears helped evacuate a soldier whose legs had been blown off, using his belt as a tourniquet.

Returning to civilian life after his March 2010 medical retirement for traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder was no picnic either.