Sergeant Bill Bee is the Marine in one of the defining images from the War on Terror. He responded to gunfire without protective gear when a Taliban sniper shot hit a sandbank just a few inches from his head in Garmsir, Helmand Province.

When his world plunged into darkness, he thought his luck had run out. But he somehow survived, and his brush with death on May 18, 2008, was captured by a Reuters photographer. The images were broadcast around the world and became an iconic display of bravery at a time when support for the war in Afghanistan was low.

People remember the reckless Marine who risked his life, but the story of the man reeling behind that cloud of dusk is one of an invisible war he is still fighting to this day.

Bill spent thirteen years in the Marines after growing up in rural Ohio, where he spent hours outdoors developing survival skills as a Boy Scout. In high school he focused on books, music, and a career in the military. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of the men in his family and serve his country.

He enlisted at the age of seventeen, started boot camp two weeks after graduation, and was sent overseas almost immediately after watching 9/11 unfold in his barracks.

He moved through the ranks from rifleman to Staff Sergeant with a tour of Guantanamo Bay and four deployments in Afghanistan where he fought the Taliban in Kandahar, Garmsir and during the battle for Marjah.

When his Marine career came to an early end, he settled down in Jacksonville, North Carolina, with his wife Bobbie and son Ethan, who was born while he was on the battlefield. He now works on a Marine training range at Camp Lejeune, plays video games and rides his Indian motorcycle in his spare time.