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Brendan Marrocco wanted to join the Army long before he enlisted in January 2008. His reservation was waiting until he was 21: “I didn’t think I had the ability,” he says.

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Friends and family say the Staten Island, N.Y., native – once a model of laid-back behavior and an attitude of just getting by – found his calling as a soldier.

“He loves the Army,” says Lt. Rich Kilcoyne, Brendan’s platoon leader. “He is smart and mature. He’s an excellent soldier.”

He was moving up. And the drive the Army fueled within Brendan was magnified after a roadside bomb attack in northern Iraq claimed his arms and legs and damaged his left eye. He continues to exhibit that drive today as he remakes his life with prosthetic limbs and exhausting rehabilitation sessions.

“He wants to live independently,” says Brendan’s mother, Michelle. “He’s not letting any obstacle in life stop him. And he’s had some obstacles handed to him.”

Brendan is unsure where this drive comes from. “I haven’t the slightest idea,” he says, laughing. “Because I am one of the laziest people in the world.”

Not when it comes to healing.

Brendan made it clear soon after arriving at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in

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