Asoldier 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. Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) visits with U.S. Army Pfc. Andrew Taylor, 22, of Jackson, who is recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C., from a wound he received upon being shot while performing his duties as a medic in Afghanistan. Taylor has been awarded a Purple Heart medal. 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. When he spoke with Greater Media Newspapers last week, he was 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.
In an interview, Taylor said he is assigned to the 187th Infantry Battalion, part of the 10th Mountain Division, based at Fort Drum, N.Y.
“I’m a medic and I was deployed to northern Afghanistan earlier in the year to help support Operation Enduring Freedom,” he said. “Our job was to help train and assist the Afghan National Police (ANP) so they can eventually support themselves.”
Taylor said he was with his Afghan police partners in an area that was known to have enemy insurgents and had been a problem for the Afghan police. The mission was to take control of the area and set up a checkpoint so the ANP could control it.
“We went out there with the ANP, and we had to walk in because we knew that the road to that location had IEDs [improvised explosive devices] planted along the road and our best option was to walk in. … It took a few hours to walk there,” Taylor said.
The patrol found an empty house and took up a position.
“My platoon took up cover in the compound and set up security to make sure we were safe and had an understanding of what was going on while we waited to meet up with [additional forces],” he said. “The local population knew we were coming or at least had a pretty good idea we were coming, so … they pretty much vacated the area, knowing the enemy was close by and something was going to happen.”
At one point, random shots fired by the enemy rang out, he said. Taylor said the enemy eventually figured out that the coalition forces were bringing in vehicles armed with heavy weapons.
The enemy forces began firing mortars and grenades at the compound and at the vehicles that were attempting to reach the position.
“I was on the roof [of the house], on guard, and there was a distant boom,” he said. “Once you are in the country long enough, you can distinguish between different booms, and as soon as I heard it, I knew it was the sound of a mortar.All you can do is wait. Either it will hit you or it won’t. You hear a bang and start counting, which gives you an approximate idea where it [was fired] from in relation to where it hits.”
Taylor said that mortar hit about 300 meters from the house, and it was assumed the enemy was trying to target the vehicles that were moving up to the position. He noted that the equipment used by the enemy was not well made and that many of the rounds were duds.
“They shot about five or six duds and then one of them impacted about 150 meters away,” he said. “Once that happened, there were several Apache gunships flying overhead and when the second mortar went off, they were able to zero in on the [enemy’s] location and destroy their position, saving the day for that moment.”
After a short period of silence, the enemy started firing again with automatic grenade launchers, once again targeting the approaching vehicles, and the gunships took them out, he said.
Later that same day, according to Taylor, the coalition forces started taking small arms fire.
“We returned fire and then we had to send out a team [to locate the enemy],” he said. “Being a medic, I made sure I was on any team that had to go out. If I was not there and anything happened to my guys, [I would feel responsible].”
Taylor moved out with three other soldiers and approached the area where the fire was coming from.
“We got to one spot where there was an open wall and then there was an open field,” he said. “They knew we were there when we peeked out. I guess they saw us and started shooting.”
The patrol moved down a tree line in an attempt to get on the side of the enemy, possibly drawing fire, so that another coalition team could fire on the enemy position from the other side.
“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.”
He was eventually moved to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and said a complete recovery is expected. The soldier was presented with a Purple Heart medal from Rep. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.).
In an interview, Taylor’s mother, Rita, said her son had the opportunity to accept a full scholarship to Rutgers University, but he wanted to serve his country in the Army.
“He was an emergency medical technician in Elizabeth and a member of the fire department in Jackson when he decided to join the Army as a medic,” she said. “I was always worried, but I knew he would be fine.”
She said the phone call she received from Fort Drum notifying her that her son had been wounded was probably the worst moment in her life.
“I never felt at ease until he was back in Washington and I actually saw him. As far as post-traumatic stress, I think I got it,” she said.