Thank You, Cpl. Aaron Mankin

Imus has got to stop calling the Intrepid a boat, or Cpl. Aaron Mankin is going to whip his butt. "It's a ship!" Mankin, an Iraq War veteran, hollered at the I-Man.

Imus and Mankin first met in early 2007 at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio for the opening of the Center for the Intrepid. Imus helped raise the $90 million dollars needed to build the state-of-the-art facility, where amputees and burn victims receive the highest caliber of rehabilitation care.

Mankin, unfortunately, knows the consequences of war all too well. Back in May of 2005 he was a combat correspondent with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force near Fallujah when the 26-ton vehicle in which he was traveling hit an IED.

"I was conscious for the entire attack, but it's a lot quicker in my head," said Mankin, who has since undergone 55 facial reconstructive surgeries at UCLA Medical Center. "From the time I was wounded to the time they had me stateside at Brooke Army Medical Center there in San Antonio at Fort Sam, it was about 48 hours."

Iraq, he said, is a much different country now than it was when he was there. So much has changed, and yet the objectives for the soldiers on the front lines remain the same.

"Most of them can't even tell you what the politics are or who's running for office," said Mankin. The troops are more concerned with building bridges, and opening hospitals and schools, which he called, "the way we do business."

Along with Senator John McCain, Imus had visited wounded veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center a few years ago, and has always tried to emulate McCain, who thanked every single service member by name.

"Sometimes it doesn't seem like enough," Imus remarked, poignantly. He called raising all that money back in 2006 "one of the prouder moments of my life," right up there with meeting courageous people like Mankin and his comrades.

"You've inspired literally millions of Americans," he told his 27-year old guest.

Though Imus expressed frustration at having to raise the $90 million privately to build the Center for the Intrepid and the forthcoming National Intrepid Center of Excellence, Bill White, the president of the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, had a more positive outlook.

"We want to do it," White said of the American people. This way, he added, the vets know "we love them, we care about them, and we'll always be there when they need us."

Mankin believes the best is yet to come, and not just for America, but for himself: he's about to get prosthetic ears, which he will use to his advantage during interviews with Imus.

"When I'm done listening to you, I can just take my ears off," said Mankin, unknowingly mirroring the desire of so many Imus in the Morning guests.

-Julie Kanfer