Shilo Harris joined the Army after 9/11.

Years later, he was sent to fight overseas.

Then one day, while he was in Iraq,

Shilo was riding in a Humvee and soon found

himself engulfed in flames.

NARRATOR: In February, 2007, Shilo Harris

was patrolling in Iraq when his Humvee was hit by an IED.

Three of his fellow soldiers died.

Shilo suffered broken bones and severe third degree burns

on 35% of his body.

Shilo was in a medically induced coma for 48 days

and spent three years in physical therapy.

Despite struggling with PTSD and undergoing 75 surgeries,

Shilo views life as a gift.

In his book, "Steel Will," Shilo shares

how his injuries changed his life forever

and what he did to find strength and encouragement in the face

of tragedy and loss.

Well, Shilo Harris is here now with the rest of the story.

And Shilo, we thank you for being on our program today.

It's wonderful to have you here.

I want to say thank you for your service to start with.

And then let's go back, if you will, to February of 2007.

What happened that day?

Well, I tell the story quite a bit.

I just think it's therapeutic in a way for me

to tell this side of it, because early on, I

was still trying to figure out what

actually happened that day.

And the things that I remember, and as we

were working on the book, it really

helped to give the other guys' information

and what they remember and the things that they seen.

But in a nutshell, it was February 19th, 2007,

and we was on a fairly routine patrol.

My Humvee literally erupted.

It blew three of the four Humvee doors off,

blew the entire top of the truck off,

and I lost three shoulders-- my gunner, my two dismounts

were killed in the explosion.

Fortunately, my driver and I survived.

TERRY MEEUWSEN: When you see the pictures--

I was saved by the grace of God.

TERRY MEEUWSEN: It's amazing you got out of that.

Yes, ma'am.

When this all happened, the explosion is over,

and you're lying there so badly injured,

did you realize what had happened to you?

What went through your mind?

Well, at first, I woke up in the front passenger position,

which was the truck commander's position.

I was unconscious from the blast.

So there was things going on before that I

don't remember until I woke up.

But when I woke up, I knew I had been hurt,

but I just didn't know how bad.

And I started trying to push the door.

And I looked over and it was like I

was looking through straws, like a concussion.

And I had really bad tunnel vision.

But I remember looking at this arm,

and it was like somebody had taken a torch

and just melted my uniform into my skin.

And I was like, gosh, that's got to hurt.

But it wasn't hurting.

And so I started pushing on the door.

And as I'm pushing on the door, I

mean, this is where I believe the Lord had to be there

to help me out, because I don't think that in the condition

that I was in I should've been able to kick myself out

of the vehicle, because that door

was embedded in all that dirt and that asphalt

from the explosion.

And it had that 400 or 500 pound plate on the door,

so I had to struggle to get out of the vehicle.

However I did, I got out.

And I was standing there, taking in all this chaos.

And later, I found out, as we was

working on "Steel Will," that I actually survived

two blasts-- first, the IED.

And then while I was unconscious in the vehicle--

they left me in the vehicle to tend to my driver, which

was conscious and what they assumed,

they assumed that I was dead.

So they was taking care of him.

Well, the secondary explosion happened.

It was an AT4, or a handheld rocket

that we had in the back of the Humvee.

It cooked off.

So they figured if he wasn't dead from the first explosion,

he's probably dead now.

And then when I kicked myself out of the vehicle,

everybody was astonished.

And they just stopped and started staring at me.

And I finally started barking orders

before things started moving again.

So the coma that you were in, was that medically

induced to help with healing?

Yes, ma'am.

When you finally came to, because you

were in the coma for a long time, what did you think?

What went through your heart and mind?

Well, I have to be honest.

Because initially, I was so heavily medicated

that I don't really remember a start point of when I came out

of the coma, because everything just seemed like a really

dark, eerie dream.

And we talk about that in the book, also,

about that time in the coma, because it was almost

like an alternate reality.

And I've got to tell you this.

It was probably about as close to hell as I ever want to get.

It was the most helpless feeling.

Everything hurt.

Everything was painful.

It was scary.

It was horrifying.

And it just got worse, because burn injuries,

to get to healing from that with the grafting and the debriding

and all of that is so incredibly painful.

Your faith had to have been something

you just clung to as you walked out that whole journey.

How did God move in your heart at that time?

Initially, like I said, I didn't have

a grasp of that first moment.

So I think initially I was still really dazed.

I was just happy to see family members

and I was happy to be alive.

Well, when I found out that I had

lost three friends-- and to be honest,

I was a bit of a realist.

After sand pictures of the Humvee,

I figured somebody didn't make it.

I had no idea that I had lost the majority of my crew.

And that was really devastating for me.

I literally cried for three days.

I ran that day through my head over and over and over

and I kept trying to blame myself for the day.

I'm like, well, I was the guy that

was in lead of the vehicle.

I should have done this.

I should have done that.

And I ran it through my head over and over and over.

And just finally, I was like, you know what?

I've got to turn this over.

And I started praying.

And I did, I had to lean on my faith.

And it seemed as the more I prayed,

the more answers came to me.

And it was like I could start seeing

the picture more clearly.

OK, and that's when I started remembering some

of the details of that day.

And it really helped me find peace with myself

to know that I did everything that I humanly possibly could.

We hear so much, Shilo, about post traumatic stress disorder.

And you have struggled with that as well.

How could you not have?

What are some of the triggers of that for you?

I mean, I know your faith has played a huge part in it,

but I know that some of overcoming that

is recognizing what triggers those feelings to come up

in you again.

I think that is a huge way to take that battle

into your own hands.

You can't fight a battle blind.

I mean, you just can't.

And technically, I believe that you should know your enemy.

Well, right now, PTSD is the enemy for so many veterans.

And as we've talked about in many cases,

PTSD is literally taking lives every day

at a rate of over 30 veterans a day.

TERRY MEEUWSEN: And families, because it destroys families.

And it's terrible.

So I think the first thing is we have to understand PTSD.

And I'm not just talking about the communities.

I'm talking about the veteran.

Because the veteran himself or herself

is in the middle of that battle.

He or she needs to take the time to understand PTSD, understand

the triggers that set them off, and learn

how to deal with it in a natural setting,

instead of trying to drown it in alcohol and drug.

Well, it's obvious that it can be dealt with,

because God is using you in a remarkable way,

because you've made yourself available to share

your story with others who've gone

through similar circumstances.

We have just touched the tip of the iceberg here.

We haven't talked about your wife and your family

and all of the-- you're very candid about what all of this

means to relationship and to family in the book.

And also, the fact that what you said earlier

is so true, telling the story over and over

and over again is part of the healing process.

"Steel Will" is the name of Shilo's book.

"My Journey Through Hell to Become

the Man I Was Meant to Be."

It is available nationwide.

I highly recommend it.

Just as you need to understand the things that's

you've talked about that have become a part of your life,

we all need to understand the trauma that's

involved for people coming back that have experienced injury

and sometimes just the emotional aspect of all of that.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for your service.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you so much for having me.