The explosive device detonated without warning, in a fireball that seemed to erupt in slow motion. Army Pfc. Robert Bartlett could count the rocks and shrapnel drifting toward him over the hood of his Humvee. Then he felt a sledgehammer slam into his face. In unbearable pain, he went blind. Through the ringing in his ears came faint screaming - his own. The soldier beside him was killed instantly. The turret gunner above Bartlett collapsed on his shredded and charred legs and the two men clutched each other in pain and terror.
The blast tore into Bartlett's face, perforated internal organs and collapsed a lung. A bear of a man, Bartlett was dragged out of the kill zone, eventually ending up under the care of surgeons at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
Blast from improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, is the enduring agony of the American experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, an ancient weapon brought to terrifying lethality.
It has killed 2,400 Americans, who are among those who will be remembered on this Memorial Day as overseas wars continue to unfold.
It has also left 23,000 wounded, many so severely that they will require lifelong intense medical and psychological care.
Many more, medical officials say perhaps tens of thousands, have returned from long deployments under constant threat of or exposure to blast, bearing mental scars and brain trauma about which little is known.
"Blast injury will be the defining long-term medical burden of this conflict," said a Navy combat surgeon in Afghanistan, who asked not to be identified for personal security reasons.
Bartlett and others agreed to talk about their experiences to deepen the public's understanding of what troops face in the war zone, and to share their pride of service.
The Arizona native who is rehabilitating at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center served as an Army scout-sniper. But until he was injured four years ago, he spent most of his time in Iraq on humanitarian missions.
"It was, hands down, the best thing I have ever done in my entire life," he says. "I will never complain, ever again."
IED blasts cause a ghastly array of wounds. The shock wave can rupture lungs, eardrums and even eyeballs, shear tissue and shatter bone. Victims are often smashed against steel wreckage, and dirt and metal fragments are driven into their bodies. The flesh on Bartlett's face and hands was burned away and he lost his left eye.
