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Toccara Green—Jan 2006
Shipment Honoree
Green
died in Al Asad, Iraq, when multiple improvised explosive
devices detonated near her unit during convoy operations. She
was assigned to the 57th Transportation Company, 548th Corps
Support Battalion, Fort Drum, New York.
'She loved her country' and
died in Iraq serving it
Army Spc. Toccara Green, a transport operator, had just been
home on leave and talked of re-enlisting.
By Anica Butler
Sun Staff
Toccara Green lingered until
after midnight that last Sunday in July, eating ribs and ice
cream cake and mingling cheerfully with nearly 90 friends and
relatives gathered at a backyard barbecue in her honor.
She posed for pictures with new baby cousins and older
relatives she had not seen for years. She prayed with members
of her church. The next Sunday, her two-week leave over, the
23-year-old Rosedale woman and Army specialist returned to
Iraq for the final four months of her second tour of duty.
Yesterday, members of her family reconvened to mourn her
death.
Green is the first military woman from Maryland, and the 26th
service member from the state, to die in Iraq since U.S.
forces invaded the country more than two years ago, according
to announcements from the Pentagon.
As friends and family gathered, Green's parents received a
phone call from a fellow soldier and friend of their daughter
who was there when she died. Green was killed Sunday when
explosives detonated near her supply convoy in Al Asad, in
western Iraq.
Green, a motor and transport operator, was driving a Humvee
behind Spc. Nicole Coleman, the soldier who called the Green
family home yesterday. Between them were several trucks
carrying supplies, Coleman said over a crackling connection.
When the convoy stopped to refuel and switch drivers, they
climbed out of the Humvees.
"The next thing you know, explosives went off," Coleman
recalled in a soft and trembling voice. "I was getting ready
to get back in when I saw the first one go off."
Coleman said she dropped to the ground, then jumped back into
the Humvee when she heard the second explosion. Inside, she
heard there were casualties but didn't know who.
The next time she left her vehicle, she said, she saw her
friend lying in a pool of blood. She recognized her, Coleman
said, by the scarf on her head. Someone was performing
cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Green, Coleman said, but she
was dead before the medevac unit arrived.
"I just started screaming," she said. "I never lost a best
friend before."
The two met during basic training in 2003, Coleman said, and
referred to themselves as "Batman and Robin" or "Pinky and the
Brain."
Green had long wanted to join the Army, her family said, and
spent four years in ROTC while attending Forest Park
High School in Baltimore.
Her father, with whom she was close, wasn't comfortable with
his only daughter joining the military, especially because her
older brother had joined the Marines, the brother, Garry Green
Jr., said yesterday.
So, after she graduated from high school in 2000, Green
attended Norfolk State University in Virginia,
where she studied telecommunications and broadcasting.
Her desire to join the Army never waned, and in January 2003,
she enlisted, her brother said.
"She loved her country," he said. "She wanted to do something
to help, not just sit around and talk about it."
When Green was 13, her father had begun to teach her about
cars, and she loved to work on them, her brother said. So it
was no surprise when she told her family that her Army job
would be as a motor and transport operator.
She was assigned to the Army's 57th Transportation Company,
584th Corps Support Battalion, based at Fort Drum, N.Y.
She was sent to Iraq the first time in May 2003, her brother said, and stayed for about nine
months. She returned to
Iraq in February.
Garry Green Jr. said his sister was eager to finish her second
tour and receive a new assignment. She was talking about
re-enlisting during her last visit home.
"She wasn't exactly mad about going to Iraq," he said. "She's
not the type to cry that 'I gotta do this' or 'I gotta do
that.' She just wanted to get it done."
He described his sister as enthusiastic and outgoing, a
natural leader who could motivate others easily.
Coleman described Green as a silly, witty and excitable
confidante.
At her family's church, Victory Ministries International,
Green worked with the children in the congregation and read
announcements, said Lenora Howze, a family friend and
associate pastor.
During her last visit home, Green went to a movie with her
aunt, as she always did, and went roller skating, a favorite
activity.
Her father, Garry Green Sr., watched videos yesterday of Green
participating in ROTC drill competitions in high school. Her
mother, Yvonne Green, said she couldn't bear to hear her
daughter's voice and instead sought comfort in the photos
taken on that overcast Sunday in July.
Her brother, too, reflected on the recent gathering.
"It was a perfect day," he said. The Greens said they are
planning a local service in addition to a military funeral in
Arlington, VA.
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