Posted on 11/24/2012 4:55:00 PM PST by GailA
Horn Lake soldier injured
2012 Horn Lake High School graduate, Army Pvt. Taylor Odom, who currently awaits transfer from a hospital in Colorado home after a tragic incident.
Training accident leaves 2012 Horn Lake High School graduate in critical condition in Colorado Published: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 9:10 PM CST TIM SUMMERS Managing Editor
According to his mother, all Army Pvt. Taylor Odom wanted to be was a soldier, and now as a result of a training accident at Fort Carson in Colorado, he awaits approval from military officials for an ambulance ride back home.
His mother, Jenniffer Palazola-Herrin, said during an interview over the phone from the hospital in Colorado where her son is receiving treatment, said that the doctors had cleared him for release but that the only way to transport Odom is by ambulance. She said that she had been calling Army representatives and officials but as of the afternoon Tuesday had not heard back.
Odom, a 2012 graduate of Horn Lake High School, was one of five injured, according to a press release from Fort Collins, although the official release does not include any names. Odom, his mother said, had graduated from basic training on Oct. 25 and from there been transferred to Fort Carson.
* The military installation released a statement about the Nov. 7 incident but did not give many details or names, except that there would be an investigation.
"Five Fort Carson soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division were injured in a vehicle rollover accident here..while participation in a training exercise new Camp Red Devil training area, about 15 miles south of Fort Carson main post."
"Ground ambulance and Flight for Life air medical transport were used to carry the Soldiers to local hospitals," the release stated. "Three were transported to Evans Army Community Hospital. One was transported to Penrose Hospital and one to Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs."
It was from the parking lot of Memorial Hospital that Palazola-Herrin was taking her phone calls, as she described it, outside earshot of her son, who was in his bed inside.
She said that as she understood the accident her son was ejected from the vehicle he was riding in, and that vehicle reportedly fell on him. She said she did not know who was driving.
After a week in a coma, he has been cleared for release she said, after rattling off a long list of injuries including brain damage, punctured ribs and broken bones. She said he was in a coma for some time, as well as needed life support.
She said that during his time in the hospital, Odom has expressed his wish to deploy, to be a soldier, a dream that due to this accident may have faded away.
"It really is a big deal," she said. "My son will never be able to deploy. He wants to go. His whole life was dedicated to going."
She said she worries that with military cutbacks and stricter guidelines for recruiting that there may be a possibility her son may not even continue in the service.
Either way, she said, she will find a way to get her son back.
"I just want my son home."
Tim Summers: editor@desototimestribune.com or at 662-429-6397, Ext. 247.
This aired on Memphis news 24 just a few minutes ago.
Best I can say is contact Tim Summers and get more information.
Video
http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/video?clipId=7991400&topVideoCatNo=230026&autoStart=true
News article
http://www.abc24.com/news/local/story/Injured-MS-Soldier-Trying-to-Come-Home/AjhqvQNs-0yQjWBOMNN7Cw.cspx?rss=59
Nachum ping list please
Mississippi ping
I believe if she contacts the Military Order of the Purple Heart (national) they will help her.
check out this site and if you know the family, have them set up an account! They take a small percentage, but credit card donations go straight through to the source IMMEDIATELY:
I will chip into the goal of getting this soldier home...
I never donate to the local whiny stuff, as most of it is gang bangers killing each other off and their families wanting donations to bury them or pay their med bills. As the parent of a murdered child I could care less. No one helped us, we were the wrong color.
This is entirely different. This the military should have taken TOTAL responsibility to get this young man home.
We are Ret. USN, hubby was a SCPO.
Thanks very much for this ping.
Placemark for more information.
Our son is currently stationed at Ft. Carson and is home for Thanksgiving. My heart goes out to this young soldier and his family. Please post info so we can help!
Something about this story doesn’t add up. The story doesn’t mention if the soldier was granted convalescent leave, or has just been granted a pass from the hospital. It makes a big difference. Normally a soldier on convalescent leave is entitled to air ambulance transportation to a point nearest his home, probably Camp Shelby in his case. I have flown the air ambulance route (Air Force C-9), and it is a pain in the a$$ as are most things military, but it gets you there. Just not when you want and not as convenient as you want. If you don’t like that, you are on your own, subject to the doctor’s orders. I’ve paid the commercial airfare before, rather than wait three days and then take another two or three in transit to get home. You are under superb medical care all along the way, but the rest of it was guaranteed to raise your blood pressure.
I’d like to see some more details and one or two facts, not just the whining account.
placemark
My wife knows the mom says she heard it was hazing was at fault
Since your wife knows his mom, can you please help me with something?
I’ve watched the vid twice and still don’t understand. The man and woman in the video are shown to be his step-mom and step-dad, and are holding hands. What am I not understanding?
“he has been cleared for release”
Cleared but needs medical attention for travel? Doesn’t sound cleared to me. Usually only hospice patients needs medical care for travel.
Gamecock made excellent points about missing info, especially the convalescent leave factor. I’ll toss in another piece to the puzzle and that’s the certainly pending Line of Duty Investigation. The local command may want him kept close for that process, along with the need for continued medical treatment. Given the list of injuries, I’m surprised he could even be considered for a medical release for travel but I’m no MD. GailA, use your search engine for info on the Line of Duty Investigation process - I’ve done a couple but those were over 30 years ago.
GailA: I’m no supporter of the recently re-elected POTUS but the attempt to smear him as a part of why this soldier just can’t be taken home at .gov expense (read: your wallet and mine), that lack of logic really burns my toast. How about we try to stay on topic and reduce the unnecessary rhetoric blaming every ill on a politician we don’t like?
I agree with both of you. We don’t have all the facts here.
Even if the Army is granting him leave, the wheels turn slowly.
Against all of this needs to be weighed the psychological benefit to the recuperating troop, if he is now capable of being aware of his mother and father being near. (He would not literally return to the home, but to another hospital near home.) There is no slick, easy answer.
Aren’t the same facts you craved also requisite before the account can be truly belittled as “whining”? If it’s truth it isn’t whining.
After being hospitalized for several days Odom still suffers from a long list of injuries including brain damage. "He was in a coma. He has broken ribs and his pelvis is completely crushed," said Palazola-Herrin.
I'm not a doctor but it sure as heck doesn't sound like he's ready to be released yet.
Perhaps the mother misunderstood what the doctor was saying?
Story in all the sources were scarce on detail. Never having dealt with this end of the Military I have no knowledge of how it is done now, and it’s been a very long time since hubby was in and things change. My kids were still in cloth diapers! LOL
Local news is most always short on details, this is not a main channel, secondary that comes on at 9pm unlike the main local news which comes on at 10pm. Best I could do is find the other links, again short on details. And I could not get the sound up high enough to hear all of it, I have a mild hearing loss but not enough for aids yet.
Which is another reason I put up the Desoto Times article as it has the phone number and email of the writer of the piece. Seems only land ambulance will be considered, why I can’t say, you would think air ambulance would be faster, maybe a cost factor, just not enough info to inform.
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