Most writers have since accepted Sergeant Kelly's claim without question.

Walter Camp attempted to track down Sergeant Kelly but without success.

Sergeant Kelly said he could not release the names of the men until family members were notified.

But Sergeant Kelly, 23, may be better off than other soldiers.

Sergeant Kelly does not obsess about the attack.

"I don't remember a blast," Sergeant Kelly said of the roadside bomb.

"We didn't have a lead; there was very little to go on," Sergeant Kelly said.

That is the skull in the photograph pinned above Sergeant Kelly's desk.

Sergeant Kelly last deployed to Iraq in 2004.

Sergeant Kelly said he went into a 150-foot free fall after another paratrooper passed over the top of his chute, causing it to collapse.