Like all of us, Mary Dague remembers 9/11 like it was yesterday.

"I was only a junior in high school, but I’ll never forget that day. I heard the reports on the radio as I drove to school. My classmates and I watched as the second tower fell. I wanted to help, but couldn’t at the time. It was a life-changing experience for our whole country."

Of the hundreds of ways Mary could have served, she chose one of the most dangerous—as an Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Tech in the Army. An EOD Tech is trained to uncover and diffuse live explosives.

Soon, she was deployed to Iraq.

November 4, 2007 started just like any other day, when her team was called to dispose of a hidden bomb discovered between a school and apartment buildings. Mary and her teammate removed the explosive in pieces. When she set one of the disposal bags down, it began to rock back and forth.

Instinctively, she hugged the bomb against her body to shield her team from the blast.

The explosion threw Mary into the Humvee behind her. Both of her arms were instantly amputated. Her ear drums burst. Shrapnel tore across her face.

Within 15 minutes, Mary was in the Medevac helicopter.

"I battled my way through recovery, surgeries, depression, body dysmorphia, and fought to get off the myriad of drugs I was on for over a year. And I did it with a smile. Because maybe seeing me smile would help the other troops recovering at Brooke Army Medical Center; maybe it would help my family accept what happened to me; maybe it would assuage my team's survivors guilt. I hope it did."

Mary eventually moved back to Washington to be close to her unit. There, she met the love of her life, James, an EOD Tech as well. As she jokes, “a more successful one than I.”

He has remained by Mary's side through all the challenges, including a battle with breast cancer.