FORT DRUM, N.Y. (March 13, 2023) -- The sole memorial on Fort Drum to honor a fallen female Soldier of the 10th Mountain Division (LI) is the Spc. Toccara Green Memorial Motor Pool.
Born March 7, 1982, Green was raised in Rosedale, Maryland, where she grew up with a love for roller skating and working on cars with her father.
She served as a Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) class commander and a member of the drill team while attending Forest Park High School in Baltimore. Green also volunteered at her local church, reading announcements and working with children.
Green studied telecommunications and broadcasting at Norfolk State University in Virginia until she found employment at a medical insurance firm. Green decided to enlist in the Army as a motor and transport operator, and she attended basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, in January 2003.
Green’s first duty station was at Fort Drum, assigned to the 10th Mountain Division’s 57th Transportation Company, 548th Corps Support Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade. She deployed to Iraq in May 2003 for nine months, only to return there for a second tour of duty shortly after.
In January 2005, her unit deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, as part of the 1297th Corps Support Battalion, 1st Corps Support Command, at Al Asad Airbase, Iraq.
Green was among the Soldiers who provided security for convoy logistics patrols traveling in western Iraq and Jordan. They operated in hostile areas of the country – in one year, their convoys encountered 93 improvised explosive devices (IED). They also prevented more than 100 IEDs from detonating through early detection.
During the yearlong deployment, the unit was responsible for the safe passage of more than 30,000 vehicles. This resulted in the delivery of more than 150,000,000 gallons of fuel, 63,000,000 gallons of potable water, and high-priority cargo.
On Aug. 14, 2005, while traveling from Al Asad to Camp Korean Village, several IEDs detonated near Green’s convoy. The attack took the lives of Green and Sgt. James Steward, while wounding three others.
Green was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on Aug. 26, 2005. At the time of her death, Green’s company commander said that she had a way of seeing the positive in any situation.
She was the first female Soldier from Maryland to die during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Family, friends and colleagues gathered at Fort Drum on Oct. 26, 2007, for the dedication ceremony of 57th Transportation Company’s Spc. Toccara R. Green Memorial Motor Pool. Today, the Motor Pool is used by the 10th Sustainment Brigade’s 548th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion and 543rd Composite Supply Company.
Green’s name can be found on a Heroes Walk memorial plaque in Memorial Park, and on a bronze plaque in the memorial garden outside the U.S. Army Women’s Museum, Fort Lee, Virginia. In 2022, part of a road in White Marsh, Maryland, was dedicated to Green.
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