Stephen Cochran

When Stephen Cochran walks on stage next week at Packard Music Hall and Convention Center, it will be a miracle.

His success in country music isn’t the surprise; the walking is.

Cochran put his burgeoning music career on hold to join the Marines following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

After 111 missions in Iraq without a casualty as part of Special Forces Recon unit, Cochran was sent to Afghanistan for similar duty.

‘‘I thought, ‘Oh well, it can’t be worse than Iraq’,’’ Cochran said during a telephone interview. ‘‘Then the plane touched down. Oh, hell. I just entered hell.’’

That initial assessment proved true. The unit faced one ambush situation after another, and his close friend, Corporal Ron Payne, was killed in May 2004. Shortly after that, Cochran’s unit was providing convoy security when an explosion threw him 120 feet from the vehicle, leaving him with a broken back and a serious concussion.