Just at the time of the ceasefire between Iraq and Iran in 1988, an infantry platoon discovered that they were in a minefield. They found that out from Private First Class Hakim, who had stepped on a mine.

They were terrified, but they didn’t leave him on his own, at least for the first half of that day. Later, one by one, they started to withdraw, ostensibly to go get help, but each time one of them left, he never came back.

Private First Class Hakim stayed there all alone. He didn’t budge an inch, for fear of setting off the mine and – at a minimum – losing his leg. That is, if the mine didn’t turn him into a pile of body parts.