You probably clicked through to read this article because the word ‘penis’ is in the headline. While there are a dozen easy jokes to be made on the topic, and we haven’t shied away from making them before, this time we’re talking about a military veteran who was wounded in the line of duty.

This unnamed veteran wasn’t–forgive us–dicking around like the guy who got his own employee’s testicle amputated. He is one of 1,367 American servicemen that suffered a genital-related injury while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2001 and 2013. The nature of the veteran’s injury as been kept under wraps, but the doctors treating him at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have continually stressed that it’s traumatic.

“These genitourinary injuries are not things we hear about or read about very often,” said Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee. “I think one would agree it is as devastating as anything that our wounded warriors suffer, for a young man to come home in his early 20s with the pelvic area completely destroyed.”

Johns Hopkins will perform the first ever penis transplant on U.S. soil. Before now, there have only ever been two attempts at the surgery. The first was performed in China in 2006, but ultimately failed after the patient’s body rejected the transplant. Last year, the transplant was performed so successfully by a medical team in South Africa that the patient was able to impregnate his girlfriend months later. Johns Hopkins currently has permission to attempt the surgery on 60 men injured in combat.

The transplants will all be completed using organs from deceased donors.

After the procedure is complete, the patient’s nerves will grow into the transplant and eventually allow the patient to regain all sensations and functions. Surgeons said it was a “realistic goal” for patients to one day father their own biological children.