Staff Sergeant William Bee heard a single shot from what he feared was a Taliban sniper, so he grabbed his rifle.
Seconds after pointing his weapon at a window 150 meters away, his world was plunged into complete darkness.
He survived the close call in 2008 and the sequence of photographs were printed and broadcast around the world.
Seven years since, in his first interview, Bee tells Daily Mail Online in his last tour he killed a Taliban commander, But since he returned home, he has constant flashbacks, suffered a string of violent outbursts and has tried suicide.
He also says he’s struggled to get the psychiatric help he truly needs from the Department of Veteran Affairs. Bee accuses government agency of having too many bureaucrats making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.