Wounded warrior Marines star in ‘Still in the Fight’ music video

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Marine Corps Times posted my long-form story about Lance Cpls. Kyle Carpenter and Nick Eufrazio on Sunday. By now, you’ve hopefully heard their story: they were hit by a grenade blast in Afghanistan in November 2010, and Marines serving alongside them that day in combat insist Carpenter deserves the Medal of Honor. The Marine Corps acknowledges it is investigating what happened.

One of the things I mentioned in the story was Carpenter appearing in the music video for “Still in the Fight,” a song by Lt. Col. Mike Corrado. It’s worth a look, if you haven’t seen it. Carpenter, who has undergone more than 30 surgeries after sustaining catastrophic damage to his neck, face and arm, appears with retired Master Sgt. William “Spanky” Gibson and Cpl. Aaron Mankin in an upbeat song dedicated to their fellow wounded warriors.

As I write this, the song has been viewed more than 37,000 times on YouTube. It’s also for sale on iTunes, with proceeds going to the Fisher House Foundation. The organization offers the families of wounded warriors housing and support near military hospitals while their loved ones undergo treatment.

Carpenter spoke highly of Corrado, calling him “the man” during our interview. As reported in the story posted Sunday, Carpenter also said there’s no sense dwelling on his injuries.

“I think for guys who get severely injured and can’t move forward, it’s because the ‘what-ifs’ absolutely destroy their recovery,” he said. “It’s human nature for everyone to say ‘what if,’ but I try to snap out of it as quickly as I can because I’m never going to be able to go back and change what has happened.”