OK now, as someone who has been in the military for the past twenty two years and has been "over there" I have the upmost respect and am proud of all of our people. That being said, why is Lynch a hero? She was wounded in a vehicle accident and was captured. she wasn't shot or even fired her weapon during the ambush according to army reports. I admire the little girls moxie but come on, there were others that day who actually fought and died trying to save what was left of the convoy. and by the way, according to reports, their captain had left them there and went ahead. Maybe I am off base and I do realize that the army despertly wanted a hero for propaganda but lets be real. just MHO.

 

No, I think you got it right. Not taking away anything from Jessica, but I think that the Administration PR boys saw this as a great story and played it for all it was worth.

 

Agreed. She's no Srgt. York or Audey Murphy

 

I don't see how you can lay this on the administration boys. To stop people from making up their own stories and quit whining about limited access, the military let hundreds of news reporters into the scene.

The biggest liars of the war were the reporters. Right now, the Democrats want to time a Congressional Investigation into the origins of the letters WMD to coincide with the re-elections at a cost to exceed 40 million tax payer dollars but no reporters are even asking questions about all the lies told by reporters, not too much is made about reporters looting, and reporters giving away military classified information or how many lives were lost because of gutless countries that wouldn't even support us in the newspapers.

Captured facecards in Iraq claim that Saddam never believed for one second that the USA, Brits and Aussies would attack because of all the countries doing a major U-turn from what they originally voted about Iraq.

Stories that don't speak well of Democrats and Newsmen are not usually told on the front page or at all. If the administrative PR boys pulled off this inept story right under the eyes of 1200 newsmen with cellphones, hat's off to their ingenuity.

I agree she is the most famous POW of this war, not a hero any more that everyone else that showed up for muster.

 

Yeah, I've been wondering this myself. If Lynch had been a male rather than a female, would this story have gotten as big? I doubt it. There are many guys who were in her shoes...we haven't even heard their names.

 

IMHO Jessica lynch is not a hero. She is a soldier that came very close to being a casualty. I still haven't heard all there is I'm sure, but the real heros are the men who risked it all and went in looking for the lost soldiers.
Where is the story about them. Is this a bunch of "women are just as good as men on the battlefield" crap?
She should have never been assigned to that detail in the first place. How would us men felt if our daughter were in her predicament? Personally I would have felt like ??? Well I don't know how I would have felt. Just very relieved that she is still alive.

 

I'll go with the glad she is home.
Hero, in her home town she is and thats pretty cool. Hope we see many more welcomes like that in the near future.

 

First, most of the GIs over there and everywhere else are heros. Poor Lynch is a victim right now. She was doing her job to the best of her ability and got stuck in the short end because of those above her. We will probably never know the "real" story of what happened to her, but I think she's handled herself quite well in her circumstances.

It's the public relations clowns who made this such a big deal. Hopefully the real lessons are being passed on to the troops. Weapons maintenance, pathfinding, and convoy procedures to name a few.

I think the special forces did what they should have for the rescue. Go in fast and hard and be prepared for the worst. I think the Bronze Star is a bit much, but let's face it, most decorations are.

 

 

Jessica Lynch a hero. I think we've covered this before and it came down to your definition of hero.

IMHO she is in NO WAY a hero. She served bravely and to the best of her ability. So did what, 250,000 others? And they completed their missions successfully without being captured. Where's their "heroes" welcome. The press has outdone itself yet again. Pathetic.

I'm also more than a little put off by the way she's lapping up the attention. Putting on a big press conference in which she praised herself, not those around her, and now negotiating a big $$$$ contract for the TV movie rights to her story. IMHO, a REAL soldier would have humbly kept their mouth shut, praised those around them that deserved it, and quietly slipped into the sunset.

Waxy

 

Jim_of_OZ said,

It's the public relations clowns who made this such a big deal. Hopefully the real lessons are being passed on to the troops. Weapons maintenance, pathfinding, and convoy procedures to name a few.

You guys actually have some evidence that the military and/or Bush administration did this? I heard the stories from the news media, never from anywhere else, never heard a press release, Tommy Franks, these stories of stab wounds, empty handgun, etc.

I would expect a reporter that was lied to by the military PR or Administration PR people and put out falsehoods to tell us that he/she was lied to by so and so. I don't understand the willingness to pin this on W's people or the military and not the press. All the evidence suggests otherwise.

 

I completely agree. I have only been in the service for about six years and to hear that just makes me sick. The one thing that I can never stress enough to my soldiers is that the there is no such thing as "Army of One". Bottom Line is that without your buddy covering your six, you are a sitting duck, "SGT York" or not. Nowadays there is no enemy army charging your bunker, it's you and your squad going through downtown Bahgdad and you're all looking out for each other because you know darn well that you each have an equal chance of getting popped by some sniper who gets a few lucky shots before the guy with a saw reigns fire on him, and everyone else is doing the same. Lap it up Lynch, because you'll always be remembered as the little girl who got captured and the ones who gave their lives are the ones that will be forgotten by our society. It's a shame, but it's true.

 

david.brady,

That's the kind of response I expected and wanted to hear from other military personnel. I'm with you all the way, if I were in your shoes I'd be down right PO'd with little miss Lynch.

I've never been in the military, so the nearest parallel I can draw from my experience is my days of playing football. Any kind of celebration in the end zone (doing a press conference?) got a stern reprimand. "Act like you've been there before son", and the word I was simply not tolerated. If a teammate acted the way miss Lynch is acting now, he'd get linched.

The press is in love with QB's, but when was the last time you saw one say "Well, we lost today, but I played great and stood bravely against their defense, anyone want to make a movie about me?"



Waxy

 

...A Bronze star is awarded for "meritorious service in combat"...
I guess car crashes count as meritorious service...
...IMHO awarding her the medal demeans the value for the ones who actually earned it...
As stated elsewhere, Its just a propaganda campaign.

 

Yes I also think it was some what over played.....And you gotta remember she was a female also...So if it was a male would he be considered a Hero or just a POW that is now free from the enemy??