PFC. Jessica Lynch = hero?

[TNWhiskey]

This just in...I was on Foxnews' website and apparently in an interview with Miss Lynch that airs Tuesday night on ABC she makes the claim that she believes that the Adminstration used her capture and rescue to raise support for the war...

IF this is true...OMG...she can certainly think that, but to say it??? Were those special ops guys sent into get her only trying to raise support for the war? Were the Marines staginga diversionary strike only trying to raise support for the war??? On the contrary Miss Lynch they were saving your A$$, by putting there own lives on the line...So whether or not she believes that her ordeal was used for some agenda...so friggin' what...I think their entitled to use you however they want after they save you from rape, torture, and maybe even death. How distgusting.

 

[dividebyzero]

Some *very* interesting things happened regarding the experience of Pfc. Lynch.
What must be first taken into consideration is the very fact of her own modesty. She admits she did nothing extraordinary to deserve the title of a "heroine".

Granted, I don't think there's some sort of Army/Media conspiracy to parade the image of the caucasian, blonde, "down home", girl-from-next-door image as that of a heroes, but judging by some of the facts, it's pretty obvious that someone was definately looking for a "hero" figure to parade around.

Pfc. Lynch was captured and seperated from the rest of the 507th, under the direct orders of someone VERY high in the Iraqi military. There are two speculations as to why:

1) She was seen as the "trophy" prisoner, to be kept for said official's own personal pleasure. The hospital was chosen because: 1) the U.S. wouldn't bomb it and 2) The Iraqi official would have access to the drugs and equipment he needed to torture, rape, and interrogate her. Needless to say, this idea is most widely accepted.

2) She was taken in an attempted PR campaign to show the West that the Iraqi's were not inhumane, and that they would treat their prisoners well. The hospital was chosen specifically so her wounds from the accident before her capture could be treated, which is why she alone was taken there instead of the other members of the 507th who weren't as badly injured. Although, this speculation doesn't enjoy as much popularity, it cannot be entirely discounted.

The fact of the matter is: she alone was specifically seperated from the rest of her unit. The question is why.

There's also a lot of controversy surrounding the video footage of the Special Forces mission to rescue her, which show intense fighting. There is every indication to believe that there was in fact, no resistance at all when she was rescued from the hospital, and since then, the footage has been quietly retracted.

Before you blame the media exclusively, bear in mind that the Army PAO's *themselves* were the ones putting out the very specific information about the bloody hospital battle and how Lynch fought on until she ran out of ammo and was wounded from enemy fire. That alone struck me as the most suspect, as there was plenty of journalistic "wackiness" during OIF, this one incident was Army-borne.

Amidst all this bruhaha, Pfc. Lynch was very drugged at the time of her rescue and supposedly was barely able to move under her own power. Draw your own conclussions from this...

But wait, there's more! Pfc. Lynch and the S.F. troops in question, had to sign an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) about the rescue operation immediately thereafter. Fraid' I dont have the exact dates, but this is something that was but briefly mentioned in the media after Pfc. Lynch arrived in Germany by the C.O. of the hospital himself (which, incidentally, probably violated some article or another of the UCMJ).

I don't think there's much in the way of conspiracy on this last bit, as operationally, the mission warranted a great degree of secrecy. But, all in all, considering the fates of the other members of the 507th, and the relatively convienient way in which the S.F. rescued her, coupled with the controversy of the video, makes it a very interesting case indeed.

I personally don't care what happened, it's far more important that she was rescued alive, and relatively intact. Pfc. Lynch performed her duty to her country, as did the other unfortunate members of the 507th. This is the particular "duty" all members of the armed forces are expected to perform when called upon, therefore, her experience is absolutely no exception. It hardly warrants exception, as the media would like to believe, simply because she most probably the most "photogenic" of the POW's.

As far as Lynch recieving more disability compensation that Jackson, yes, Lynch's injuries were much more extensive that Johnson's, thus warranting more comp.

The fact that there's now a made-for-T.V. movie about her, when there are innumerous far more heroic and interesting stories of heroism in Iraq and Afghanistan everyday, truly disgusts me.

My sympathies to the modest and dutiful Pfc. Lynch, and my gratitude and awe to the members of the S.F. who rescued her...regardless of the hype.

 

[nittany03]

I'm not so sure about a "conspiracy" of any sort, I think media types were just so desperate (sp?) for a good story that they took the first rumors as they came along and didn't wait for the facts to sort themselves out as they later did. Call it an ingrained way of thinking and acting, not a deliberate plot.

 

[Elder]

IMHO, Mohammed Odeh Al Rehaief was the hero. (Even though HE already has his own book - lol) Even lost an eye in the process.

EDIT: More info about Al-Rehaief here - http://www.msnbc.com/news/986663.asp?cp1=1 )

Lynch was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to go through what she did. Ugh, no way.. hence the service I'm in.

 

[stevew]

Dividedbyzero: Just to let you know the reason why Lynch was seperated from the rest of the 507th was because out of the 5 people in her humvee only her and Piestewa survived the hit from the RPG. Both of them were taken to the same hospital and Piestewa later died from her injuries.

 

[Enishi1983]

don't hate me for this, but she is not a hero in my opinion. i feel sorry for her of course, but the way she was captured and the spec ops went to save her, she should be a little more thankful than lying! she told her officials that she doesn't remember what had happened, and now that she's out, she's spilling everything! i'm sorry, but that's called selling out to me. and yes, whatever happened to all the others that were killed in 507 anyway? they are recognizing the wrong person in my opinion. think about it; if she doesn't remember anything, her book should be only like 100 pages at most, don't you think? but now that she's out, and she's spilling everything that actually happened. SHAME.

 

[NeoCortex]

Everyone keeps saying, "Why don't the SpecOps guys get any attention?" Well guys, I know a couple of them, and they don't want the attention. All they need is the fact that they know that they got the job done. They can't go infront of the media because it's a security risk. They can't tell people how the mission was carried out because more than likely they are going to have to do it again and they don't want the bad guys to know how they pull it off. These guys don't do it for the book deals or the movies. They are HOOYAH, gunhoe and ready to take on any mission that they can to save lives. I respect them, and I know most do too. So that's why you don't hear alot form them.

Ben

 

[spsiratt]

Terribly unfortunate, but not heroic. The word "hero" has become so devalued precisely because of events like this where it is thrown about as though synonymous with soldier, Marine, and the like. Jessica Lynch is not a hero. Was she brave? Yes. Was she courageous? Who knows, she was KO the whole time. Everyone in Iraq right now is brave. You have to be brave to operate as a member of an occupying force where resistance forces execute daily attacks. That by no means makes them heroes though. When one of them shows exceptional bravery and courage in the face of danger and potential self injury or death, that makes them a hero. Bear in mind, there is a fine line between a hero and "that soldier who tried to run through the crossfire to save his fallen comrade." Pfc. Lynch was brave for doing what she was doing. Good on her and I thank her for that. But suffering from anything between a car accident and possibly up to and including rape and torture do not a hero make.
Oh, and rare21 mentioned Scott O'Grady... his book is complete rubbish. If you can ever get your hands on the official reports from that incident, they're good reading. That guy did everything wrong, everything. Fortunately for him, luck was on his side.

 

[dividebyzero]

Someone mentioned that she's "selling out" now because at first she was saying she didn't remember anything, and now she's explicitly saying the Army used her.

You have to consider the fact that she's now *out of the Army*. While she was in, she wouldn't have had as many liberties to voice her own opinions on what happened. Now, she can literally say whatever she wants. I personally am more inclined to take what she's saying now at face-value, as opposed to what she was saying when the hordes of Army Public Affair's Officers surrounding her at any given time.

Also, I didn't know about the other soldier who died from her injuries who was also moved to the hospital. The very fact that both the surviving occupants of that humvee were moved immediately to a hospital, IMHO, adds more credibility to the 2nd scenario I mentioned about the former regime gov't official and her capture.

 

[rare21]

spsiratt, i agree with you about the O'Grady issue. When i was in API most of the instructors told us that O'Grady did everything wrong. Really the only thing i remember about the book was his emotions while he was going through it. I guess that made the book good reading for me. Where could you get the official documents? I'd love to read that.

 

[savingthisone]

Question: Who was covering the squad leaders six when Jessica was "down on her knees, praying"

 

[dividebyzero]

This is one of the many reasons I'd rather suck on a grenade than join the Army...

You can't blame the media entirely for blowing the incident out of proportion, they just went with
the more sensational things the Army was all too willing to give them. Particularly, the infamous
video tape of the raid.

The tape showed a pitched night-time battle, whereas all independent accounts indicate there was no resistance when they rescued her from the hospital. The Army was responsible for putting that tape out, and I find it hard to believe that they wouldn't have known better than that there would be innumerous idiosyncracies between what it purported to show, and the independent accounts.

Things like that put the entire media coverage of the war into question. If the Army itself apparently, was willing to fabricate or at least facilitate the exaggeration of Pfc. Lynch's story, then what other facts about the war have been distorted?

The last thing the military needed right now with public approval of OIF sagging, was a credibility issue. Thanks again, Army!

 

[savingthisone]

Gotcha 18. In the same boat. The thought police would be all over me like white on rice. Bite my tounge and say nothing. Tis hell to be a coward!!

Guess the other aspect is that I am no where near as informed or knowledgeable as other about this (and other) subjects. It is amazing the way some have all that battlefield knowledge right at the tip and have that magnificient inside insight all every and all aspect of the subject. Sometime they even know what each and ever one involved was THINKING at the time. And the information is always so perfect. It is certainly impressive, to say the least.

 

[phrogdriver]

A lot of times we confuse saving one's own ass against the odds with heroism. Hence the O'Grady/Osborn/Lynch thing. Somehow we've lost sight of what heroism in war is really about--saving your buddies and killing the enemy. There's at least one Marine up for the Navy Cross right now. Haven't seen his name anywhere but Marine Times. I know of another who's up for the Distinguished Flying Cross--not for landing a stricken aircraft in a hostile country, but for killing the enemy. Yes, most any serviceman is heroic, in a very small way, but that is clearly an abuse of the word, like saying my high school touchdown run was an example of Heisman-worthly athletic glory.

As far as O'Grady "screwing up," I'll let him slide. Having been to SERE and having spent some time in somewhat bad guy country (mostly just flying over though, mind you), I'll only judge him by the results. Busting his balls over such acts as approaching the TRAP helo from the wrong way is a bunch of crap. It's similar to a mishap investigation, where a pilot's actions over the course of a 10 second period are compared with the ideal pilot reaction formulated over several weeks. I remember getting the debrief of an another actual CSAR shortly after it happened. The S-2 dorks busted the PIC over some very petty crap. O'Grady--not a hero, but a guy who did pull his bacon out of a hairy scenario. I'll give him plenty of "props."

 

[Enishi1983]

well, NBC's sunday night movie sucked @$$, let us see what she has to say, tonight or tomorrow i think, on 20/20. oh man, i'm going to enjoy this... not!