MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – Vermont Army National Guard Lt. Christopher Carbone volunteered for his second tour in Iraq and was serving as a line officer in a rifle company last month when he was wounded by a roadside bomb.

He was wounded just over a month after another junior officer in his company, Lt. Mark Dooley of Wilmington, was killed by a roadside bomb. And Carbone was wounded 10 days before 2nd Lt. Mark Procopio of Burlington was killed, also by a roadside bomb in Ramadi.

Carbone’s face is pretty much healed from the shrapnel that hit him during the Oct. 23 explosion, and he’s working at an Army base in North Carolina at regaining full use of his wounded leg.

Yet after surviving a blast similar to those that killed two friends and hundreds of other American service members in Iraq, under the right circumstances Carbone would do it again.

“I really would go back,” Carbone said during a telephone interview from Fort Bragg, N.C.

Vermont National Guard officials say there are dozens of combat veterans who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan or non-combat service in Kuwait volunteering to go to Iraq.

Carbone was one of three who, so far, have been allowed to return. It’s not a love of war or a rejection of family in the United States that sends the soldiers back.

“It’s the boys,” Carbone said when asked why he volunteered to go back. “I started in that unit. Those are the boys who raised me and taught me to be a leader.”

For a young man, the challenge and responsibilities given to a junior officer leading a rifle company in a combat zone are unmatched, Carbone said.

“Life is so simple over there,” Carbone said. “You know who your boys are. You know what your job is. The confusion you sometimes deal with in the civilian world is not there.”

Montpelier native Gen. Richard Cody, who is now the Army’s vice chief of staff, said during a recent visit to Montpelier that he understood what drew service members back to combat zones.

“Isn’t it amazing what you read in the papers and you talk to the people who’ve been there and they re-enlist?” said Cody. “They understand. They absolutely understand. They like being a part of something bigger than themselves. They are truly patriotic, and they understand the dangers that face this country. They want to make a difference.”

Carbone, 27, is from North Haledon, N.J. He attended Norwich University in Northfield, although he received his degree elsewhere.

It was during his time in Vermont that Carbone joined the National Guard’s 3rd Battalion of the 172 Mountain Infantry Regiment. He said his weekend drills in Vermont after he moved away were like a vacation and the six-hour drive each way just became a part of the package.

Carbone said he was disappointed when his unit was sent on a mission to Afghanistan and he didn’t go. He asked a superior officer to find a place for him.

Carbone was temporarily assigned to the Washington National Guard, serving in a brigade combat team attached to a regular Army unit serving in Baghdad. He was a staff officer.

It was there that he got to see what he called the big picture of the war, successful things like sewer and farm projects and grain distribution programs.

“There was a lot of good stuff going on,” Carbone said. “I really enjoyed it. I met a lot of really good people.”

He returned to the United States in March, after the 400 members of Task Force Saber, now serving in Ramadi, had left Vermont for training in Mississippi prior to being shipped to Iraq. Carbone said he’d stayed in contact with his regular unit and continued to trade e-mails while it was training at Camp Shelby.

In June Carbone’s former commanding officer called him up and told him he needed a platoon leader. Carbone waited a couple of days and then said he’d go.

“It wasn’t that much of a decision. My mind was set while I was still talking to him on the phone. It was a matter of talking with certain loved ones,” Carbone said.

Once in Ramadi, Carbone, Dooley and Procopio led Alpha Company.

“We were the three lieutenants,” Carbone said.

Earlier this month, Carbone visited Burlington to attend Procopio’s funeral. Another soldier held his crutches while he hobbled onto the stage at the University of Vermont’s Ira Allen Chapel to tell Procopio’s family and friends what a great soldier and friend Procopio had been.

“Both Mark Dooley and Mark Procopio were the kind of people who would not want you to quit because of what happened. You remember those guys,” Carbone said. “You continue the mission as best you can. It hurts. … Those were two really great guys who would not want us to back down.”

Carbone said he planned to stay in the National Guard, but once he recovers from his wounds he hopes to join the Wayne, N.J., police department.

Even though he said that under the right circumstances he would rejoin his unit in Iraq, that’s not what he’s focused on now.

“I know they have a replacement inbound for me,” Carbone said. “If it came down to it I would go back. Right now my mission is on getting better.”