Journalists worldwide are often faced with dangerous and unexpected situations.

But only a fraction experience what it is like reporting in a war zone. On Thursday, the Youngstown Press Club welcomed a former war correspondent to chat with the crowd about his time as a war journalist. 

Carmen Gentile worked as a reporter for years, covering the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for USA Today, Esquire, and CBS News. While reporting in Afghanistan in September of 2010, he suffered a life-changing injury while on the job. A rocket-propelled grenade blinded him in his right eye and crushed part of his skull. The grenade failed to detonate, which saved his life.

"To recover from that and then go on reporting is just fascinating to me," said Adam Earnheardt with the Youngstown Press Club. "I think it's inspiring to a lot of people, especially those journalists out there that put themselves in harms way every day to tell those stories."

Earnheardt encourages the public to view Gentile's coverage of the accident on his website. "The actual footage is there and he was filming when it hit him in the face. It's shocking."

Gentile wrote a book titled: 'Blindsided by the Taliban' based on his experience overseas. He now owns a media outlet that covers post-industrial communities called 'Postindustrial.'

"I'm interested these days in talking about what can be in places like Youngstown and other parts of the Rust Belt and Appalachia," Gentile said to 21 News. "It's important to not only recognize it but celebrate it."

"For him to write about post-industrial communities is inspiring to me," Earnheardt added. "When he reached out to me looking for writers for 'Postindustrial,' we jumped right on it."

Gentile's best advice for journalists worldwide, stay focused even if you're taxed to your limits.

"What often happens in those circumstances is that you are forced to learn a lot of new skills and how to pin those skills together to perform at your best," Gentile said. "The work of journalists today has created a new brand of journalism that is dynamic and driven by younger people who fully embrace the multimedia aspects of telling stories."

Gentile's history resonated with people in the crowd like Patti Smith, who has a son in the military.

"They're willing to do this without the training that my son's been through," Smith said. "My son is a major in the army and so he's been trained very well. These gentlemen are just putting themselves out there and the women too. God bless them for doing it."

Gentile acknowledges he is well-known because of the 2010 attack, but he wants to be known for his endless journalistic work and 'Postindustrial' brand. 

"I'd like to think there are other things that I can contribute other than telling stories about what happened to me in Afghanistan especially now," Gentile added. "I am focused on trying to create a better sense of community in these two regions in the Rust Belt and Appalachia. If we have better conductivity in our region, it would raise all the boats."

To purchase Gentile's book, visit the Amazon link.