It was December 21, 2014, and Tyler, a soldier with the Army and 19D Cavalry Scout, was about to head back to Iraq to train the next class of Iraqi soldiers.
“The Humvee I was in rolled over and I got thrown,” he said, adding that he fractured his skull and face, broke and dislocated his jaw, had cervical fractures from C-1 down to C-6, destroyed the base of his skull just millimeters above his C-1, had a broken clavicle, and broke his lumbar spine from L-4 to his tailbone.
Due to these devastating injuries, he sustained a diffuse axonal injury, resulting in a severe traumatic brain injury. Taylor underwent emergency brain surgery in a civilian hospital in Kuwait City and was in a coma for three months; he remained in hospital care for two and a half years.
He doesn’t remember anything from that day he was hurt.
The Travis Mills Foundation
Taylor and his fiancée, Alia, attended the Travis Mills Foundation Veterans Retreat this summer and called it an amazing experience for several different reasons.
“My favorite part of the retreat was getting close to other veterans who understand you,” he said.
It also brought him closer to his fiancée and both enjoyed the beauty of Maine.
“Every second spent up there was God’s gift,” he said.