We were tasked with going down Main Street. We had these flyers. It was something about how we wanted to start new relations and as we're handing them out and IED explodes.

Many of the men and women who enlist in the armed forces do so knowing they may die.

But somehow meeting death face to face still comes as an absolute surprise.

There is a distinct difference between something you know in your head and something you believe in your heart.

So when the fighting starts you lead with your heart because sometimes the chasm between knowledge and belief is just too wide to cross.

The shrapnel went to my eye, went to both knees. It blew out my right knee. It blew out my right bicep.

It blew up in my left thigh so I could see my femur all the way down.

Shrapnel through my right hand and pinky. It was just a bloody mess.

I remember the dock came over. I was in and out of consciousness. Pretty sure I was going to die.

Pretty sure that was the end. This is where my life ends here on the sands of Usaba.

Marines trained for months to learn how to respond to chaos and with each combat tour they get a little bit better at it.

They have better crisis reaction times and make better decisions under pressure.

For his part Kevin Rammley had excellent training and he was making good decisions during the attack on his unit.

He made them right up until an IED took him and the rest of his fire team out of the war.

What is true bravery? What makes a hero? A hero? Tested by the worries of what's happening at home, thousands of miles away and the reality of what you're facing here and now.

When your life is in danger every second and it's either killed or be killed.

From Wondery and in-congruity media. This is Anthony Russo and this is war.

Back in the States when he had been part of the build up to the war in Iraq they told him that at least five members of his unit would not be coming home.

But he didn't believe them. For him it was all part of a game. No 20 year old Mariam believes they are going to die until it happens.

And when it does there is no amount of training that can compensate.

After all you never really believe you are going to die. But when you are dying you believe it.

It's something that I've actually have post-traumatic stress. For me it is literally reliving that singular moment of the explosion and the thought of death.

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