Captain Sam Brown Was on Fire for a Minute During a Deployment to Afghanistan

Being in the Army is obviously an incredibly dangerous job, and few people know that better than former Captain Sam Brown. Brown is currently running for Senate in the state of Nevada, and as his race gets more national attention, many want to better understand what happened to his face.

Sam's facial deformities are the result of an injury he suffered while on tour in Afghanistan in 2008. Here's what we know about what happened to him:

Sam was in Afghanistan in September of 2008 when a bomb that was under his Humvee detonated. According to his personal testimony, Sam was on fire for a minute.

"I remember thinking: How long is it going to take to burn to death?" he wrote. "The bomb exploded under the fuel tank of my vehicle, leaving me soaked in diesel and engulfed in flames. I dropped to the ground, screaming for help, but I found no relief from the pain."

Sam was eventually saved by the vehicle's gunner, who was wounded himself but doused all of the flames on Sam.

"His words and selflessness reignited hope within my soul. God had heard my cry for help and provided aid through my brave soldier’s actions," he said. "In mere minutes, I went from complete despair to total faith. I realized I was going to get off that battlefield, and I knew there was life ahead. This day became an Alive Day in both a physical and spiritual sense for me — Praise God!"

Sam was then medically evacuated to San Antonio, where it was discovered that there were third-degree burns covering 30 percent of his skin. Those burns had to be grafted over with donor skin, and some of the new skin also scarred. All told, he went through more than 30 surgeries over the course of his three years of physical recovery.

Sam is currently running to unseat Jackie Rosen in a senate race in Nevada, and the race is undeniably tight. Despite a deeply compelling personal story, though, Sam has failed to find enormous success among a certain class of rural white voters in the state.

"He has also failed to generate excitement among conservative voters, even in the more rural parts of the state where Republicans typically win overwhelmingly, with some citing his unfamiliarity with state issues," The Washington Post reports. "Brown’s staff recently turned over, a sign of turmoil in the campaign. And he has skipped basic campaign rituals, such as reaching out to local Republican leaders like Lawson."

So, even as he campaigns in part on his story of service to his country, it's unclear whether Sam will have the momentum needed to unseat a Democrat in one of the country's most closely-watched Senate races. Only time will tell who emerges the victor after the votes are tallied on Nov. 5.