Army medic from Jackson recovering after being shot in back

Pfc. Andrew Taylor hopes to rejoin unit in 2011

By Dave Benjamin

JACKSON — A soldier from Jackson will celebrate a happy new year at the end of the month, happy to be alive after being shot by the enemy while serving with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan.

U.S. Army Pfc. Andrew Taylor, 22, of Jackson, is recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C., from a wound he received after being shot in the back while performing his duties as a medic.

Taylor, who is assigned to Charlie Company in Afghanistan, was wounded in November. He spoke with Greater Media Newspapers this week and said he is hoping to be home for Christmas and to return to duty by February.

A public affairs spokesman at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst said Taylor is continuing his recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Taylor said he was wounded while accompanying a patrol unit that was attempting to flush out an enemy position.

“We bounded up, moving two at a time, to a trench, and then to another trench,” Taylor said. “Then they fired and I heard a call, ‘Doc, someone’s hit.’ I got up and ran to the trench they were in, running as fast as I could, and then I got hit. It felt like a blunt force.”

Taylor said he checked himself but did not find any blood. He then went over to the wounded soldier, cared for him, and waited for his other buddies to pull them out of the trench so they could be led to a secure area. That is when someone told him, “Hey doc, you’re bleeding.”

Taylor was eventually removed from the area and cared for by a U.S. Navy trauma team. He said the doctors determined that a bullet had entered his body near the back of his neck and exited near his left shoulder blade. The bullet completely missed hitting the protective armor the soldier was wearing.
Taylor said it was a one in a million shot and it hurt.

“I woke up and found that the bullet went right through,” he said. “My spinal cord was intact and everything looked good.”

For the complete story, see the Dec. 16 issue of the Tri-Town News.