Not all the same

Last November, 1st Sgt. Brad Kasal and Lance Cpl. Alex Nicoll were seriously injured in one of the fiercest battles of the Iraq war.

Kasal and Nicoll had been with a Marine unit conducting house-to-house searches for insurgents in Fallujah. When fellow Marines entered one house, they were injured by insurgents inside. Nicoll and Kasal went in to retrieve their comrades, but soon were severely wounded themselves while temporarily cornered in a room on the bottom floor.

In the past, their wounds might have killed them. But thanks to better body armor, battlefront mini-hospitals and quick flights back to the United States for treatment, American troops injured in Iraq are probably receiving better medical care than ever.

Yes - I'm a bit of a geek for 'brave soldier' stories and photographs. This is not a Walter Mitty complex on my part. I think that military training is a tremendous thing that the majority of civilians will never understand. It is not all about the quite disgusting beating of young men but who knows whether one or more of the soldiers seen beating the prisoners would not have performed acts of heroism had their duty called for it?

In this case, the sergeant went to reinforce his men. Whilst in the house, he saved a colleagues life by covering his body when a grenade was thrown at them. He sustained over 40 wounds - note he still carries his pistol in a warlike manner?