Leonard Lopate at Large: Carmen Gentile

Today on Leonard Lopate at Large, Carmen Gentile talks about the difficult experiences that he chronicles in “Blindsided by the Taliban” .

On September 9, 2010, while embedded with an Army unit and talking with locals in a small village in eastern Afghanistan, journalist Carmen Gentile was struck in the face by a rocket-propelled grenade.

Inexplicably, the grenade did not explode and he survived, albeit with the right side of his face shattered and blinded in one eye. Making matters worse, his wedding engagement was on the ropes.

The book “Blindsided by the Taliban” chronicles Carmen’s numerous missteps and shortcomings while coming to terms with injury and a lost love. Inventive and unprecedented surgeries would ultimately save Gentile’s face and eyesight, but the depression and trauma that followed his physical and emotional injuries proved a much harder recovery.