Jessica Lynch graduates
Tman sends us a link about Jessica Lynch, the Army private who was captured by Iraqi troops in the early part of the war in Iraq and rescued by US special forces operators is graduating from college this week. She has taken a lot of shit from people because of the inaccuracies of the tales told by people who weren’t Jessica Lynch.
I’ve always admired her for what she endured during her captivity as well as the way she has conducted herslf after her return. For example, in the article about her, she was quick to remind us that she wasn’t the only person there that fateful day;
The first woman lost was Lynch’s friend and fellow soldier, 23-year-old Army Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa of Arizona, killed in the convoy attack.
“Knowing she died right beside me and that could fairly well have been me brings a whole new perspective,” Lynch said. “You’re just thankful for what you’ve been given, even if it’s not what you wanted.”
A lot of people like to say that she was no hero, that she was just a pretty blonde that America could rally around for the war, but she was more than that. She was there doing the job that most Americans wouldn’t. She answered the call and didn’t try to weasel out of it like so many since have done. She’s just like many of my readers who did their duty and paid the inherent price in various ways.
“The bottom line is the American people are capable of determining their own ideals of heroes,” she told Congress in 2007, “and they don’t need to be told elaborate lies.”
And the lies cost her. For a long time, she got hate mail. Some said she’d done nothing to deserve the attention or the title of hero. She once told Glamour magazine she felt like “the most hated person in America.”
Every now and then, after a high-profile appearance, a hateful missive still arrives.
“They say things like, ‘Who do you think you are? That was so eight years ago,'” Lynch said. “I just don’t respond. It just doesn’t bother me anymore. It used to, because I couldn’t understand why people were hating me. I was just a soldier like the 100,000 others over there.”
She didn’t ask for the attention, and I’m glad that she has been able to move on with her life and past the crap from the anti-war numbnuts types. And I wish her all the best in her endeavors. She earned it.
Category: Real Soldiers
I saw that article yesterday as well. I have never heard her speak where she didn’t mention her close friend Lori and the others who were killed that day.
I wish her the best.
She was a media created sensation. She didn’t ask for all the attention and she has always been quick to point out that she wasn’t the only one captured. I think that she has handled it all with grace and humility and THAT is what makes her special.
Hero? What person who volunteers for military duty in the name of his/her country isn’t a hero?
Like has been said above, this was not her design, just the way the chips fell, and the biggest thing I have seen is that I have not seen her name in the news continually, as with some who don’t have the integrity that she has shown.
She has my respect, then and now. I doubt that having been in Academia for a few years, sent her to an OWS movement as a participant.
HOOAH, Jessica.
Exactly, OT–as far as I know she has never sought out publicity or tried to cash in on her experience. She still bears the scars and even in her late 20’s has mobility issues.
Anyone who thinks she is trying to hog the spotlight or trying to “get what’s hers” has no clue of which they speak. The story that was put out there was done by the administration and DoD, not her, and as has been mentioned, she never speaks about her experience without including those who went through it with her.
Bravo Zulu, Jessica.
Exact opposite reaction I expected from here.
Well, that reaction says much more about you than about us, doesn’t it, karlen?
Kudos to Jessica. She is a class act whose suffering continues every day. She could easily have sat down and lived out her days in peace. Instead, she presses on, continues to give of herself to others.
I was at Ft Bliss when the plane brought her back. The media frenzy was crazy. Almost a year later, I was also in school with some soldiers from the rescue. They said there were just as many cameras as there were soldiers. It’s kind of easy to hate her, she is the face of a complete failure of leadership. From Ft Bliss to Iraq, the unit was rather jacked up.
Good for her, at least she is moving in a positive direction. I wish all the vets were!
She wasn’t the one who made her case a big deal. I was, however, ticked at the media. There were a lot of good men killed in that fire fight, and no one know their name.
Not for nothing, there was a book written about her called “I’m a Soldier, too”. I don’t think that book really helped her situation.
I went to BCT with Jesse. We were in the same PLT, but she was in 2nd Squad and I was in 4th. Didn’t matter, though. I still prayed for her every night when I heard was had happened back then. She is a great woman and strong, too.
The only thing that pissed me off is that she got a Bronze Star for getting lost and then getting into a car wreck.
As for the rest, it’s always great when you soldier on and achieve your dream. She will be a great teacher… her perseverance and tenacity when it would have been easier to just stay home and say the hell with it makes her a very special person indeed.
There are a lot of asshats who wear and wore the uniform that judge her way more harshly than she deserves. Unfortanetly, she was just another troop sucked up in a propaganda machine. Good job and I wish her all the success in the world and hopefully she can bring a little sunshine into everyones life.
I think she was a victim of a bad command. Her CO should have been crucified for being such a fuck up. I think that she should have maintained her weapon. I think that the suffered things no woman should have to, but I also think she showed poise and courage in her time. For that reason, yes I think she was a hero. She may not have saved any lives, but she does deserve respect.
I also appreciate that she’s making a bettering of her life, and not crying for her victim status, as some are want to do.
#14 Doc,
Just wanted to comment on the weapon maintenance thing. The invasion found many of us (myself included) unable to properly maintain our weapons. For example, we were ordered to use powdered graphite instead of CLP (LSA, what’s that? Never saw any get issued) for most of the deployment (“CLP will collect sand…”) and during our movement from FARP Shell to Baghdad cleaning and maintenance amounted to opening a feed tray cover or bolt cover and blowing out the sand. Our Ground Assault Convoy involved 26 hours of constant security duty on the back of an LMTV driving through a giant sand cloud in the open desert. Ambushed outside of the capital city, the only way I got my SAW up was by somehow summoning enough spit to lube the feed pawls.
As for Lynch, I was still in Kuwait when she was captured, though I don’t recall hearing about it until we are at Saddam Int’l. It was a sad state of affairs, and unfortunately many of us there at the time were misinformed about the situation.
@15 I had similar experiences, but when we deployed they made sure we had personal supplies of that shit. We got the “it will attract dust” too, but were ordered to keep that shit clean. we had 16’s so we stored our CLP where th cleaning kits were supposed to go.
Having said that I get that constant ops make weapons maintenance hard. Which makes it all the more important.
“this weapon is your life”
~Obi-Wan Kenobi.
You know what? You guys are okay.
As far as Lynch’s Bronze Star Medal issue goes, i have a Bronze Star that I don’t think I deserve. I tried to talk my company commander out of awarding it to me, but apparently it meant more to him than it meant to me, because he gave it to me anyway. It’s not her fault that they gave it to her…I’m pretty sure she didn’t beg for it.
Unfortunately the bronze star has become a kind of gimmie award for e-7 and above. Sorry to hijack the thread for a sec…