The Tabora Family

After completing his first tour in Iraq, Corporal Jacob Tabora was based as a Tank Gunner at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California. As he was training to be deployed to Iraq for his second deployment, a 120mm round malfunctioned. It exploded inside the tank, covering Jacob with second and third-degree burns over more than half his body. But as a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps, Jacob made it his new mission to persevere through this devastating situation. During Jacob's arduous recovery, his parents divorced, and his brother divorced. While Jacob's mother took on the role of his caretaker, Jacob grew extremely close to his brother's twin boys, becoming a father figure to them. After five years in burn recovery in the care of the extraordinary Burn Unit at the Brooke Army Medical Center in...