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.
Does anyone have a Dale Brown book handy? I just finished his last one (Tiger’s Claw) and just took it back to the library but he flies his own planes for air ambulance and had the name of the company on the flyleaf (I think) and he flies out of Sacramento or the Reno area??? The pilots donate their time, planes and expenses. I was going to write it down but thought I’d remember it. Should have known that wasn’t going to happen....
Photos and another article regarding Private Odom here:
0 said our Military should pay for at least a portion of their injury treatment, so how can you leave him out of the equation? We all know here at FR how he hates the Military and will do any thing to destroy it.
Better look at the guts proposed for TRI CARE as bad as the Medicare guts. The sites are not FR postable.
I cannot call it whining as they asked for no donations from the public. Unlike all the gang banger killers families do first thing out of the box.
“can’t fly because of his collapsed lung. “
That doesn’t sound medically stable to me. A pneumothorax can be corrected in 99.999% of cases, so why would a family rush to get him out fo a hospital before that was corrected? Sounds selfish to me.
It’s difficult to know through all this fog. I hope it is on the up and up, and it’s something like the troop himself having expressed a strong wish to be close to his family, not just a case of an over possessive mama. I think if the troop expressed such a wish we should have a heart and try to make it happen, within reason.
Gail im writing you about a post you did in 2012 on the horn lale ms man taylor odom whose mother needed help bringing him home. Its with deep sadness that i have to say taylor odom commited suicide 2 days ago it was all to much for him. Hos mother has started a gofundme page to bring him home from otegom and bury h if you could help point me in in any dirrection to try and help her id appreciate it. Also i just found this site and want to thank everuone who wanted to help before i wish we had kbown then. And there’s so much that wad left out of his story.. thank u and god bless
Thats correct... and now hes gone.. messed over so much he took his own life 2 days ago. He was an amazing kid suffered PTSD .. He was failed by many... taylor you were and are loved im so sorry we failed you.... your always gonna be my hero....
I’m so sorry to hear this. The suicide rate among Veterans has really gone up under DUMBO and his destruction of an already failing VA system.
I’ll re-post the original post, and Ping you to it, and you can fill in the other facts of his passing, and the need to bring his body home. Be sure to have a link for the gofundme page. Do spell check what you write please.
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