KTKA

Travis Schweger is able to spend precious moments with his daughter because his helmet saved his life. He's part of the Fort Riley Delta Company 1-16 Infantry and a survivor of an explosion. Schweger says, "I have hearing loss from my deployment in 2005 to 2006, but for a traumatic brain injury, I think it was significantly reduced from me wearing this."

He gives the credit to Aero pads that were in his helmet. They're different from the ones issued in the Army. Schweger says, "These Aero pads, they're really soft. Even when it's cold outside, you'll put them on and they'll be a little cold, but once they warm up to your head they start to form fit."

He says when soldiers get uncomfortable they take their helmets off. And he says there's never a safe time for that. Schweger's mother-in-law Kitty Frank says, "He started asking me if I could make one of these pads and he kept bringing it to me and said I can't go back to Iraq until I get this figured out."

That's when they found Operation Helmet. It's an organization that provides soldiers with Aero pads. And they provided pads to Schweger's entire 66-man troop. Just this week, 700 soldiers requested them from Afghanistan. Frank says, "Someone donated that money for us to have what we need, so we felt like maybe we could do something in this area to help for the next group." Schweger says, "When you see the other soldiers get hurt for not having their gear on, or wearing gear that's uncomfortable, it makes you feel good when you can give something back to your unit and say hey this is comfortable gear."

$34 pays for a set of pads. Comedian David Spade donated $100,000 to the cause. If you'd like to help click here.