Healing the scars of sacrifice

A roadside bomb destroyed Sgt. Blaine Scott's face and nearly took his life.

"Next thing you know, we're on fire, trying to get out of the vehicle," he said.

His own family barely recognized him.

"I didn't want my wife to see me like this," he said.

Three years and 25 surgeries later, the man in the mirror is starting to look more familiar, thanks to Operation Mend, a free program at UCLA that gives soldiers their faces back.

Dr. Timothy Miller takes a flap of skin from Blaine's forehead and flips it around to sculpt a new nose.

"We like them to appear as normal as we possibly can," he said.

So far, the teams helped 30 soldiers. It's funded by millions of dollars from private and public donors.

An explosion shattered army Specialist Joseph Paulk's face and his entire body. He's only on his second surgery, but says it's already helped his self-image.

"Being able to go out and not be as embarrassed, because I do look a lot better than I did," he said.

It's a different kind of military operation that's healing scars of sacrifice, one face at a time.