Kimberly Dozier

At 7:30pm on Monday, October 6, 2008, Kimberly Dozier addressed a packed auditorium of Stony Brook University students, faculty and administrators. For more than 45 minutes, the CBS news reporter spoke about her experiences in Iraq from 2003 to 2006 and how those experiences have dictated her life since.

On Memorial Day 2006, Dozier and the other two members of her crew were reporting on a story when they became victims of car bomb set off by insurgents. The crew was barely 20 feet from the car when it exploded and sent pieces of shrapnel flying towards the unsuspecting bystanders.

Both members of her crew died and Dozier lost her pulse five times in the hours following the blast and thus she was pronounced dead five times. She had shrapnel in her brain, broken both femurs and suffered injuries on a large part of her body. She endured more than a dozen surgeries and 2,000 stitches and had titanium rods inserted into both of her legs to prevent her from losing them.

All the while, Dozier made a conscious choice to handle her situation by actively dealing with her situation, rather than hiding and being controlled by it. She re-learned how to walk and has since written a novel about her experiences. Additionally, she has been in contact with the heads of CBS asking them to send her back overseas to continue reporting, even if she is sent to Iraq. She has realized that until she is reassigned, she can assist other individuals who have experienced traumatic events deal with post traumatic stress and other difficulties following the incident.

Even despite her near fatal incident, Dozier stated that her desire to report and go back out into the field has not decreased. She still has a passion for the profession even after it took the life of her crew and nearly her own.

Dozier stated that the most important thing she has learned from being a journalist is to listen to her "moral compass," and that was the message that she preached to the audience throughout her talk.