A war wound and a wedding

Published on 12/23/2006 in THE POST-STAR

GLENS FALLS -- Army Spc. Taylor Stewart was on his way out of Baghdad when he got one final, unwelcome souvenir -- a bullet in his leg.

Stewart, who grew up in Glens Falls and is home on leave, said he didn't even realize he had been shot at first. After all, his unit -- the 72nd Signal Battalion, based in Mannheim, Germany -- specializes in communications, not combat. They had come under fire several times during their one-year deployment but were in no apparent danger at that moment. They were simply relaxing inside a tent surrounded by a wall of sandbags at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, waiting for a next-day flight out of Iraq.

"I figured it was probably the safest place I could be," Stewart recalled. "Next thing I know ... I felt something hot across my leg."

He initially thought a friend had played a prank on him with a slingshot. "I got up to yell at my buddy, and I hear, 'Stewart, sit down! You're bleeding.' "

Fortunately, the bullet missed the leg bone as it went through his flesh and came to a stop in the cot's metal frame. Stewart went to the hospital and "let them clean me up," then signed himself out so he could leave with his company the next day.

He called his parents, Anni Stewart of Glens Falls and William Stewart of Hudson Falls, who were alarmed to hear of his wound but relieved that it wasn't worse. Although his mother initially told a Post-Star editor that her son thought the shot came from a rooftop sniper, Taylor now says that was just a miscommunication.

"Nah, it was just some guy with an AK-47 who was firing into the base," he said. "The Apaches (Army attack helicopters) took care of him pretty quick."

About a month later, 21-year-old Stewart is healed and home for the holidays. On the surface, he seems to blend in with his peers. He wears jeans, a hooded sweat shirt and a ball cap and slips slang like "dude" and "whatever, clever" into conversation.

But his year in Iraq has marked him in other ways. He pulls the bullet from his jeans pocket, where it's carried close to the 3-inch-long scar it created. Traces of his blood are still visible in the grooves of the 7.62-mm slug.

Another newly acquired piece of metal, with a much happier origin, rests around his ring finger. Stewart got married on Dec. 7, just five days after coming home and introducing his girlfriend -- Laura Asher, a National Guard medic from Indiana -- to his parents.

The couple met in Iraq when Stewart went to the clinic for treatment of a minor back injury earlier this year, and their relationship quickly deepened. They dated for about six months before the wedding.


"Some people say that's short, but it's different over there," he said. "You don't have your Abercrombie and Fitch clothes, gel in your hair and a couple drinks to loosen you up. All you have is yourself, so you really get to know people quick ... and we just really connected."

His perspective on relationships isn't the only thing altered by his service in Iraq. He's learned to be grateful for simple things, like safety.

"People take so much for granted here," he said. "Like walking down the street, not having a care in the world besides the essay they have to do for school tomorrow."

Stewart still has the deep sense of patriotism that motivated him to join the Army, but he said he's also gained "mad respect" for Iraqi culture after his time there.

"When I went over there, I figured I'd see some camels walking by and some people in turbans, but they're actually really modernized," he said. "They are some of the hardest-working people I've ever met, and they do it all with a smile on their face. ... No matter what we may think of them, they have really strong values. They're very family oriented."

Stewart said that even though his four-year term of service will be complete by this time next year, he could end up back in action due to the Army's "stop loss" policy. That means that if the 72nd is re-deployed within 90 days of the time Stewart's enlistment is due to end -- something he said leaders have already hinted is likely -- he would be required to serve an additional year.

Beyond that, Stewart said he's not sure what he would like to do next. "I've been contemplating re-enlistment," he said. "But I come home every time, and my nieces and nephews have grown a foot. I don't know ... I'm just enjoying having very little responsibility right now."

He doesn't mind recounting his story for friends and family when they ask -- and they have, dozens of times -- but winces when people assign him too much praise.

"I'm not a hero; the heroes are the guys who didn't come home," he said.

His childhood friend, Kyle Nelson, has a different opinion. "I think they're all heroes over there,"

Nelson said. "He should be proud of what he did."
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