Using Private Lynch

[thedrifter]

08-26-2003

Hack's Target

Using Private Lynch


By David H. Hackworth



Pfc. Jessica Lynch recently was awarded a Bronze Star Medal, a Purple Heart and the POW Medal. The BSM citation reads: ?For exemplary courage under fire during combat operations to liberate Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Private First Class Lynch's bravery and heart persevered while surviving in the ambush and captivity in An Nasiriya.?



A BSM for ?bravery? and ?surviving in the ambush and captivity?!



The Army's official After-Action Report said she was in a vehicle that crashed while hauling butt trying to escape an enemy ambush. She was knocked unconscious and woke up at a nearby Iraqi hospital receiving special attention from some super-caring Iraqi doctors and nurses.



This was probably the first incident in U.S. military history in which an American soldier was awarded our country?s fourth-highest ground-fighting award for being conked out and off the air throughout a fight.



BSMs citing bravery typically read: ?Moving his machine gun to a forward vantage point, he covered the advance of the infantry with a heavy volume of effective fire. Repeatedly exposing himself to a devastating small-arms automatic weapons and mortar barrage ?. ? Or: ?(He) voluntarily acted as point man and ... when the platoon was fired upon ... charged the (enemy) position .... Through his courage, determination and devotion to duty, he saved his patrol from suffering casualties and captured a prisoner who later provided important information.?



It?s no big surprise that I?ve been bombarded by thousands of angry e-mails from vets protesting this assault on our country?s sacred award system.



?She wasn?t wounded in action, nor did she do anything to deserve a Bronze Star,? writes Arch McNeill. ?We have hundreds of valiant soldiers here in the 3rd Division who far more deserve more than she received but in many cases didn?t receive anything.?



?I'm going to send all my awards back to the president and tell him where he can shove them,? says a genuine war hero, Jack Speed, a former Army Raider.



Trust me, the troops ? past and present ? are unhappy.



So I rang the Pentagon and asked Col. Jeff Keane, ?Why the bravery bit?? Finally, when the standard Army propaganda drill wasn?t going down, Keane told me, ?It was for her bravery in the hospital.?



But all this flimflam wasn?t Jessica Lynch?s doing. She was used right from the first ? a frail prop in the Pentagon?s public-relations campaign to sell the war to the American people and to encourage their daughters to join up and be heroes.



To keep the truth under wraps, the Army concocted another whopper: ?She suffers from amnesia.?



A senior officer from V Corps (the unit that eventually awarded her the BSM), who has asked to remain anonymous, comments that there was ?tremendous pressure right from the get-go to award Pvt. Lynch a Silver Star. But the high brass here concluded, ?There was no evidence of heroism on her part,? and told the pushers to back off.?



But when the propagandists conned the highly respected Washington Post into reporting on how Lynch was shot and stabbed but continued to kill Iraqis until her last round was spent, heroic stuff that would make Audie Murphy look like a slacker ? which the Post then took several months to correct ? other media were fast to pick up the fairy tale, and the Army was besieged by proud Americans demanding that Jessica be awarded the Medal of Honor.



Of course, many of us now know that a high-priced flack in Tommy Frank?s headquarters came up with this tall tale and then duped the Post.



According to retired Marine Lt. Col. Roger Charles: ?There?s nothing they won?t stoop to spin. The Army needed a female hero to boost female recruiting and PR efforts, so they went and invented one.?



And that?s the root of the problem. The elevation of Jessica to Joan of Arc status is to recruit more women, even though thousands of female soldiers couldn?t deploy with their units to Iraq because of pregnancy, no sitters for single moms? multiple kids and other problems.



And poor Jessica Lynch has become the unwitting poster girl for an Army of One that?s fast becoming an Army of Two ? since apparently more than half of the women deployed to Iraq are now pregnant.



Hackworth.com is the address of David Hackworth's home page. Sign in for the free weekly Defending America column at his Web site. Send mail to P.O. Box 11179, Greenwich, CT 06831. His newest book is ?Steel My Soldiers? Hearts.?

? 2003 David H. Hackworth.
Using Private Lynch">

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Sempers,

Roger

[thedrifter]

08-26-2003

Guest Column: Army Doctrine Doomed the 507th



By David L. Arnold



As a former officer in the U.S. Army?s Ordnance Corps, I followed reports of the ambush of the 507th Maintenance Co. in Iraq with more than casual interest and a real sorrow. Up until now I?ve refrained from comment on the ambush, figuring that my experience is a bit dated.



But after reading the Army investigative report and some recent comments about the 507th?s experience, including the adequacy of preparation and training, and some comments that I perceive as perhaps unfair slams on them, I want to throw in my two cents worth.



I submit that what happened to the 507th Maintenance Co. at An Nasiriyah was not simply the result what any individual soldier did or did not do on the field that day. Rather, I believe the tragedy was the end result of a reality of Army doctrine and culture that had been apparent to those of us in Combat Service Support many years prior to the ambush of the 507th on March 23, 2003.



SFTT reader Mike Rooney, in his posted response to Col. David Hackworth?s column on the ambush incident (?That Bloody Road to Baghdad,? DefenseWatch, Apr. 22, 2003), includes two very telling paragraphs:



?Another noticeable point ? was the large number of WEAPON FAILURES. QUESTION: Did this small company unit, its individual soldiers, plus assigned leaders ? fail to ensure and perform ?preventive maintenance? daily on their weapons? From pages 6 and 7 [of the ?U.S. Army Official Report on 507th Maintenance Co.: An Nasiriyah, Iraq?] one gets the impression ? that this unit DID DEVOTE a SUPER HUMAN EFFORT to its recovery tasks. But, did these recovery tasks consume so much time ? that weapons ?preventive maintenance? was ignored, or even simply not performed?



?On page 2 [of the Army report] it states ? ?There were 33 U.S. soldiers in the 18-vehicle convoy.? Math-wise ? 18 vehicles divided into 33 people ? equals about 1.8 soldiers per vehicle. Since most of these were large truck vehicles requiring full driver attention ? that would reasonably appear to leave only about ONE effective ?full-time? fighting gun per MOVING vehicle. In addition, on page 3 it states ? ?However, all pyrotechnics, hand grenades, and AT-4 anti-tank weapons were consolidated and secured. This leads to the QUESTION: Were these soldiers EVEN ALLOWED to have these additional items at hand and ready for their OWN DEFENSE?



Rooney is on the right track: Over the years, starting in the 1970s, Army combat doctrine has increasingly shifted the responsibility for rear-area protection from line combat units to the rear area units. Line combat units, previously available in rear-area security and ?reserve,? disappeared at the same time Army commanders began to recognize the emergence of ?fully-enveloping threat environments? on the modern battlefield. At the same time, the strength and capabilities of Combat Service Support units began to decline in the face of an increasing mission and a "tooth to tail" imbalance.



The result is the personnel math problem that Rooney cites in his response to the report. When deployed in their proper mission in support of a fast-moving force, even highly-trained service support units will find themselves undermanned, too widely dispersed, and completely outgunned in event of an enemy assault or an unplanned meeting engagement.



An immediate reaction response to the ambush ? laying down a base of fire and charging the ambush ? are realistic scenarios for troops operating from APCs or assigned to a well-prepared Ranger force. As the ill-fated soldiers of the 507th found out that day against the Iraqi gunmen, it can be a damn sight harder for a support trooper perched in the shotgun seat of a 5-ton wrecker that is sandwiched between two fuel tankers in a convoy traveling without flank security assets.



This illustrates the wider issue confronting Army support troops everywhere: Providing effective 24-7 security for a widely-dispersed logistics operation with a TOE that is barely adequate for garrison support duties at home ? and totally inadequate to run support 24-7 on a moving battlefield while simultaneously maintaining effective combat security, defense, listening posts, patrols and all the other tasks of area and route security ? is impossible in today?s Army.



Rooney also raises questions about the 507th?s PM and, by implication, their training and readiness. To explain my take on this, I need to indulge in a small anecdote. In the mid-1970s, V Corps and the 8th Infantry Division performed the first division-level exercise of an assault crossing the Rhine River in many years. It was a big deal training event. I was Division Materiel Officer at the time. After the bridges were in place at one particular crossing I was involved with, the lead elements went across. The first element to cross the bridge were some combat engineers (proving that they trusted the floating bridge) from the 12th Engineers. The second element across was one of my ordnance contact teams and a recovery point group.



I admit that I have never been in a real combat assault river crossing, but I seriously doubt that doctrine calls for the assault to be led by an Ordnance shop officer in a jeep with a wrecker and a contact team truck.



The reality was that my unit (the old 708th) wasn?t there to train. Sure, we were tactical. We got to fold the windshields down on the jeeps and work from generators instead of base power. But we were there to make sure that the exercise went well for the combat units ? our regular job ? not to do tactical training.



The second flaw exposed by Mike Rooney?s commentary and underscored in the river-crossing anecdote are at the heart of what happened to the 507th five months ago. In my experience ? and I doubt this has changed significantly, combat service support units are simply not allowed to train in peacetime for combat survivability in wartime.



The command structure and culture of the combat units they support will not allow it. No combat formation commander ? whether at the company, battalion, brigade and certainly not division level ? wants to hear that their combat readiness report is suffering because some rag-tailed Ordnance unit and its commander decided to close the shops and do convoy and ambush reaction training.



No armor brigade commander is interested in being told that his fire control is down and tanks redlined because the fire control mechanics are taking weapons training and running perimeter patrol drills out in the FTX area.



In my years as a either a field logistician or trainer, I met damn few combat commanders who were ever willing to take a hit on their own readiness reports and stand up to their highers so that the CSS guys and gals supporting them could be out taking care of combat training and readiness for their own units.



In my last year or so with the 8th ID, the Division Support Commander was the late Col. Winfield Holt, an Infantry officer?s Infantry officer. He understood our problem, but even he, with the leverage of being a combat line officer, could never buy us the training time.

So on that day in Germany on the Rhine, we I charged across the river on the pointy end of the division, and immediately set to work coordinating collection points and maintenance and supply ops all over the division area. We hauled trucks, fixed tanks, kept artillery pieces running with spit and bailing wire, handed out what parts we had, and generally didn?t sleep much. When the combat units all went home to garrison, we stayed in the field two or three more days picking up the pieces and getting yelled at because we didn?t have so and so?s tank fixed and why weren?t we back at garrison to open the shop?



CSS units, more than any other type of formation in the Army, do their wartime jobs 24 hours a day, seven days a week in peacetime. Most of them do it well and most of them are damn proud of it. They will put their mission skills, their wrench-bruised knuckles, their eyes bleared from reading rain-soaked tech manuals in the dark, their stains and breaks from wrestling with combat recovery vehicles ? all of that ? up against any unit in the Army. We lived then, and I suspect CSS troops live now, in the world of the immediate.



They are not allowed to live in the world of what might be ? a world that might include sudden combat in the rear areas of a force on the march.



The 507th, whatever its internal strengths and weaknesses, was in large measure an ultimate victim of years of both Army doctrine and the paper culture of readiness reporting.



In all likelihood, the 507th was never allowed to fully train in the combat skills that would have saved them that day. If they didn?t do preventive maintenance, it may well have been because, as Rooney senses, that they were spending 24-7 on the people their world focused on ? their combat customers. They certainly were not equipped for what happened. CSS doctrine and staffing and equipment all in essence hold a little dark secret: Combat service support units are essentially expendable after the first day or so of battle.



Add that to an ass-covering command culture that too often demonstrates that managing unit paper readiness reports in garrison is more important than obtaining comprehensive combat sustainability, and you have a recipe for disaster.



I suspect this is part of what happened to the 507th Maintenance Co. an An Nasiriyah. It could have happened to any combat support unit in Operation Iraqi Freedom.



David L. Arnold retired as a U.S. Army major after 16 years of service including field service with the 8th ID and duty as a senior logistics trainer and commander of Ober Ramstadt Depot, Germany. He can be reached at arnolds@qx.net.
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Sempers,

Roger

[the humper]

folks have heard about this type situation, then they've never experienced it first hand, as some have, or they haven't read too much history!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SF
NC

[thedrifter]

08-26-2003

A Silver Star by the Original Rules



By J. David Galland



If you want to know why so many Army officials have ignored the facts in order to canonize Pfc. Jessica Lynch, consider the letter from one Tamas Judson that appeared in the June 2003, issue of Soldiers, one of the service?s official party-line magazines.



Headlined ?A True Army of One,? the writer declared a full understanding ?for sure what the new Army motto, ?Army of One,? is all about: Pfc. Jessica Lynch is an ?Army of One,? and women in the services are standing as tall as the Statue of Liberty.?



After reading that passage, I wondered to myself, ?Where did I miss the boat? Why, as a soldier and a combat veteran, did I not feel the same as Judson after 30 years of Army service. Why didn?t it occur to me to write a similar letter touting Lynch?s exemplary leadership and professional competence?



The answer is simple. During the Iraqi ambush of the 507th Maintenance Co. at An Nasiriyah, Pfc. Lynch did nothing other than become seriously injured when the Humvee in which she was riding collided with another vehicle as they were attempting to flee the ambush. I know of no medal, decoration or award that the Army gives for continuing to survive ? just survive ? no matter how badly injured a soldier might be.



So why, in the name of every soldier who has ever performed above and beyond the call of duty in battle, was Pfc. Lynch even considered for the Silver Star, the third-highest award for valor in combat?



The answer is painfully clear: Political correctness and the unquenchable desire by many Army officials, in collusion with the news media, to collectively press the issue of female equality in the services, led officials to ignore the facts, create a false myth and seriously corrupt the awards process.



Even though the Army downgraded the original recommendation and awarded Lynch the Bronze Star Medal instead, the act remains disgusting and offensive not only to me, but to every other soldier who received awards for valor that they earned the hard way ? in blood and fear on the battlefield.



Not only has the Army?s liberal awards and medal festooning giveaway program cheapened the credibility of awards for valor in combat, but I believe it was also intended to send a message to the old warhorses who still believe that combat is no place for a woman: ?This is so important an issue for us we will stop at nothing to achieve it.?



In the view of many, in America?s female-hero seeking society, Pfc. Lynch was the perfect symbol at the right time. The Army jumped right into lockstep and served up this perky young lady from America?s rural countryside, by simply lowering the bar and changing the rules to fit the situation.



Don?t get me wrong: I am grateful that Lynch survived her grievous injuries and can pursue her civilian career (after a pending medical discharge) with all the perks that Americans have showered her with, including a new car and guaranteed college education. And in fairness to Lynch, she is as much a victim of the Army?s deification of her alleged heroic acts as anyone.



To see how far the Army has fallen, let me retell a factual account of a soldier?s battlefield conduct that justified the awarding of the Silver Star medal for gallantry. The incident occurred 59 years ago as the U.S. Army advanced up the Italian peninsula toward Monte Cassino, and the 24-year old private 1st class involved was a person known to me personally.



It was the night of May 11, 1944, and Pfc. Edward J. Gallant of Somerville, Mass., a former fishmonger, was wondering if he would ever see the sun come up again. At the time, it seemed damned unlikely, and his actions to come reflected his hopelessness. His unit, the 350th Infantry Regiment of the 88th Infantry Division (?Blue Devils?) was on the right flank of the division?s advance on Monte Cassino.



The exact location was just a few miles south of Hill 316, near the town of Ventosa. The 88th Infantry Division was about to launch a ground attack against the firmly entrenched German Waffen SS forces who still held the abbey on the hilltop at Monte Cassino, Italy. Pfc. Gallant was a Browning Automatic Rifleman in 1st Squad, 1st Platoon, Company E of the regiment?s 2nd Battalion.



As planned, the attack opened at 2300, and the battlefield erupted with everything each side had to throw at each other in a stage of exploding small-arms fire and artillery that spread unfathomable chaos and death on both sides. The battlefield was so fluid in the darkness that company and regimental battle boundaries could only be marked by tracers that invited murderous return fire. More than one round had Gallant?s name on it.



Here is what Gallant did that night, in the exact words of the Citation awarding him the Silver Star:



?For gallantry in action on 11 and 12 May 1944, on Hills Cianelli and 316, Italy.



?PFC Gallant placed himself voluntarily in advance of his company, disregarding the continuous and murderous enemy artillery, mortar and small arms fire. Although a mine exploding near him threw him to the rocky ground, stunning and bruising him, and enemy artillery shells were bursting around him, he voluntarily proceeded ahead of his platoon when they were pinned down by fire from four enemy machine guns less than one hundred yards away.



?He laid down fire from his Browning Automatic Rifle with deadly precision, which knocked out the enemy machine guns and allowed the platoon to press forward. PFC Gallant again voluntarily advanced ahead of his company during the daylight attack of the following morning and wiped out four more machine gun nests which were holding up the advance of the company. This action made it possible for the company to take its part of the battalion objective.



?He also accompanied a combat patrol later sent to wipe out enemy positions on the rear slope of Hill 316, giving the patrol accurate supporting rifle fire until he was gravely wounded. He accounted for eight dead, three wounded, and three captured.



?His courage and bravery, plus an unusual amount of initiative, served as an inspiration to his fellow soldiers and proved instrumental in the success of the day?s battle. His heroic deeds are a credit to the highest standards of the armed forces.



To that, I would add, Pfc. Gallant was wounded so severely that he was administered the last rites of the Catholic Church three times. He has never walked a straight line since 12 May 1944, and today is a 100-percent disabled veteran living in New England.



I submit that these are the type of actions that constitute and justify recognition for the Silver Star ? then and now. Long before Pfc. Jessica Lynch became the pawn of feminists embedded in the Army bureaucracy, this young man ? and countless thousands of other like him ? did his duty, came home to resume his life as best he could, and faded into history ? with his honor intact.



J. David Galland is Deputy Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at defensewatch02@yahoo.com.
A Silver Star by the Original Rules">

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Sempers,

Roger

[thedrifter]

08-26-2003

Air Force Resists ?Medal Inflation?



By Paul Connors



With American forces engaged in combat and counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Philippines since late 2001, the number of individual service members eligible to receive medals and decorations for valor has increased.



Unlike normal peacetime garrison service, where most awards are for meritorious service, the large-scale combat operations during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom have created new opportunities for commanders to recognize the heroism of their soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.



Specific events during operations in Afghanistan and Iraq have drawn the attention of the news media, including those of us here at DefenseWatch magazine. We have received numerous letters from members of all branches of the service reporting the same mismanagement of the awards and decorations systems that have plagued the U.S. military since the Vietnam War.



During the initial days of the campaign in Afghanistan, the Army?s 10th Mountain Division provided the bulk of the infantry available for ground combat operations launched by Army troops. Also present initially were members of the U.S. Marine Corps landing team that made the first forcible entry into that country by U.S. forces. After the Marines departed, combat elements of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) joined the light infantrymen of the 10th Mountain Division in their battles against the Taliban.



As anyone who remembers those early days of the expedition in late 2001, the performance of the infantry soldiers from both divisions left much to be desired. Most of the criticism surrounded the lack of endurance by soldiers untrained for high-altitude operations and the overall lack of warrior spirit by many who had grown too accustomed to garrison duty at Fort Drum, N.Y. and Fort Campbell, Ky. By the time the 10th Mountain troops returned to the continental United States, one battalion had garnered more decorations than most battalions did during the highest level of operations during the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam.



Soldiers everywhere decried the lowering of standards for valor awards, but Army officials still handed them out like candy to kids at Halloween.



In one instance reminiscent of the severe ?medal inflation? in Vietnam, Army officials awarded Silver Stars in the 10th Mountain Division to battalion commanders who never got closer to combat than their tactical operations centers miles from the fighting.



Then came war with Iraq.



This time, rather than light infantry, the world watched as a rather heavy mechanized and armored force, supported by massive airpower, made mincemeat out of Iraqi armored and mechanized infantry units. Once again, the awards and decorations folks in the rear were kept busy writing packages for valor awards. To be sure, may of the awards for Bronze Stars with ?V? devices were legitimate. Other awards, such as the Distinguished Flying Cross for aircrew members were also sent forward.



One Air Force combat controller, Tech. Sgt. John A. Chapman, and a pararescueman, Senior Airman Jason Cunningham, posthumously received the Air Force Cross for battlefield heroism during Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan. To date, there have not been any reported recommendations for our nation?s highest award, the Medal of Honor.



The Air Force, acutely aware of past criticisms that there had been an institutional tendency to award medals for nothing more than normal duty performance, made an important decision to try to prevent the degradation of valor awards for Air Force members serving in Afghanistan and the Middle East.



Air Force Lt. Gen. T. Michael Moseley, who as Commander, U.S. Central Command Air Forces (CENTAF) and 9th Air Force at Shaw AFB was in charge of all Air Force units fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, directed the creation of a special panel, CENTAF Higher Awards Board, to scrutinize all awards for battlefield heroism. Its objective was to minimize, if not eliminate altogether, the debasement of the value of existing medals.



The board?s creation was also an outgrowth of the delegated authority General Moseley received from the secretary of the Air Force to approve Distinguished Flying Crosses and lesser decorations. For the award of the Silver Star and above, the board and the Central Air Force can only recommend approval. Final approval authority rests with the secretary of the Air Force.



The results have been readily visible: During all military operations since 9/11, the Air Force has approved only 18 Silver Star medals, including 14 for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and four for Operation Iraqi Freedom. The most recent decorations board, which met from June 9-15, 2003, considered 12 new submissions for the Silver Star. It downgraded 10 to lesser awards and rejected two completely.



Although Air Force officials have been unwilling to discuss specific reasons for the downgrades and rejections, they did say that all of the recommendations failed to demonstrate where the nominee met the specific criteria for the award of the Silver Star.



The members of a decorations board serve anonymously (Air Force officials did point out that the board was composed of three chief master sergeants and at least 12 colonels, representing a wide variety of Air Force career fields. The diverse composition of the board helped promote fairness when reviewing awards recommendations.



Although most of the awards approved for Air Force personnel have gone to members of aircrews, there have also been a significant number of awards made for Air Force personnel involved in ground combat operations.



Since 9/11, the Air Force has approved 279 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 18 Silver Stars and 46 Bronze Stars with ?V? devices. Given the number of Air Force personnel serving in both Afghanistan and Iraq and their potential exposure to combat conditions, most Air Force personnel agree that the service has not succumbed to the temptation to hand out awards ?en masse.?



In the aftermath of the rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch, Army officials scurried around trying to take advantage of the news media circus over her capture and rescue by painting the young supply clerk as this war?s first female war hero. When the truth came out that she had actually been too injured in the crash of the Humvee she was riding in to offer even token resistance, Army officials hastily withdrew their plans to recommend her for the Silver Star.



After her release from the hospital, she did receive a Bronze Star for meritorious service, a Purple Heart for her injuries and the Prisoner of War medal. While no one doubts Lynch suffered terrible injuries in the crash and at the hands of her captors, her service in Iraq did not rise to the stature of heroic. Meanwhile, the ambush of her company?s convoy still leaves too many unanswered questions.



As the U.S. military continues in its stability operations in Iraq and the twilight war against terrorists worldwide, the awarding of decorations will remain a standard means to recognize heroism and valor of the troops. Military commanders must also continue to find the correct balance between awarding too few medals or degrading the entire process by handing out too many.



The Air Force, perhaps because it is the youngest of the nation?s armed forces, has taken concrete steps to rein in the tendency to ?over-decorate? its members? uniforms. The Central Air Force Higher Awards Board has been an excellent model that the Army and other services should emulate.



Paul Connors is a Senior Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at paulconnors@hotmail.com. ? 2003 Paul Connors.
Air Force Resists ?Medal Inflation?">

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Sempers,

Roger

[thedrifter]

08-26-2003

Guest Column: Hints of Torture and Rape



By Thomas Way



The story of Pfc. Jessica Lynch and her fellow soldiers in the 507th Maintenance Co. has gone through many different revisions over the past four months. The one thing we can say with confidence is that the truth is still being suppressed.



The first accounts of Lynch?s capture sounded like a reincarnation of the fall of the Alamo. Later, the story changed to resemble an episode of the television drama, ?ER,? with U.S. and British news media reports ? later ?confirmed? by the Army?s own investigative report ? claiming that Lynch was merely injured in a motor vehicle accident, then treated by caring Iraqi doctors until U.S. special operations troops swooped in to retrieve the critically injured young soldier.



Both of those accounts are myths. The initial press reports appear to have been based on garbled and misinterpreted intercepts of Iraqi communications, and the latter account due to outright lies.



What is the real story behind what happened to Pfc. Lynch during her nine days of captivity?



The evidence continues to build that neither account is entirely accurate. Already, unofficial reports have emerged that Lynch was pulled out of her wrecked Humvee and severely beaten by Iraqi soldiers. As the official Army investigation found, Lynch was riding in the rear seat of the Humvee along with two other soldiers, was far from the point of impact. She was also wearing a Kevlar helmet and body armor in addition to being cushioned by duffle bags and other similar gear in the vehicle.



Recently published photos taken of the ambush mere hours afterwards show the front right side of the Humvee smashed against the rear tires of the U.S. Army semi-trailer, but little other damage. Significantly missing from the photos that appeared in The National Enquirer are signs of the alleged Iraqi RPG impact on the left-hand side of the Humvee ? which news reports said caused the driver, Pfc. Lori Piestewa, to crash into the other vehicle.



This new information makes the Army?s official account of Lynch?s treatment by her captors highly suspect. Add to this, the multiple reports by Iraqi citizens at the time stating that Lynch was being mistreated, including a direct statement to NBC reporter Kerry Sanders from an Iraqi national that a female U.S. POW was being ?tortured.?



It is an open secret among U.S. military personnel that American POWs in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and Operation Iraqi Freedom 12 years later ? both male and female ? were sexually assaulted by their Iraqi captors. Did this happen to Lynch?



Consider how the U.S. Army Lynch during her stays in Landsruhl and Walter Reed Army Medical Centers. While the other patients, including the other rescued POWs from the 507th, were treated normally and basically kept among the general hospital population, Lynch was kept in isolation from the other patients, even during her physical therapy. Even the language used by military spokesmen concerning her medical condition more closely resembled that used for the victim of a sexual assault than of a soldier who had suffered wounds in combat or a vehicle accident like the Army has claimed.



Sergeant 1st Class Greg Walker, an experienced SOF operator and published author who was involved in the Lynch?s rescue, recently stated very clearly that Lynch?s fellow soldiers, whose bodies were recovered at the hospital during her rescue, had been physically mistreated, then executed.



In view of what happened to the other POWs, there is little doubt that Lynch, too, was also mistreated as well, quite probably throughout the entire period of her captivity. Historically, Iraqi medical personnel have acted on the orders of Ba?ath Party officials to assist in the torture of prisoners. Therefore, the Nasiriyah hospital staff would have a powerful vested interest in concealing the actual abuse of American POWs, including Lynch.



Following Lynch?s rescue, Col. David O'Neal, an Army communications specialist in Iraq, emailed his wife concerning what he had learned of Lynch?s experience as well. The Charleston Post and Courier quoted O?Neal in an online article, ?Be prepared to get very upset when the Jessica Lynch story is unveiled ... if it really ever is,? he told her. ?That should be her decision. Those Iraqis have no respect for human life, especially women.?



The full story of what really happened to Pfc. Jessica Lynch could be best answered by Lynch herself. But will the U.S. Army allow her to freely speak of her experiences, or will she be bound by the same gag order that has silenced former Spec. Melissa Coleman, a POW for 33 days in Operation Desert Storm, for over twelve years?



When recently asked on national TV what happened to her during her captivity, Coleman stated very clearly ?I am not allowed to say.? Supposedly, Lynch has the freedom to speak openly of her captivity and medical treatment as long as it does not impact current operations.



So why is this not the case for Melissa Coleman? Will Lynch end up simply following orders and repeating the Army?s all-too-inaccurate report instead of telling the full story behind her captivity?



It appears that the U.S. Army and the thugs from the deposed Iraqi Ba?ath Party have a common desire to suppress the truth about the atrocities suffered by Lynch and her fellow POWs.

Thomas Way is the pen name of a career military intelligence analyst with almost 20 years of experience in both the U.S. Army and Air Force. He can be reached by forwarded emails sent to dweditor@yahoo.com.
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Sempers,

Roger

[thedrifter]

08-26-2003

Lynch Deserved Praise ? But Not the Medal







By Matthew Dodd



I was, like most Americans, very relieved and happy when I heard the news that Pfc. Jessica Lynch and her fellow soldiers were rescued. After hearing the horror stories about the torturous methods of the former Iraqi regime, it was all too easy to imagine the unimaginable happening to our soldiers being held as prisoners of war (POWs). Knowing they were all back under coalition control was joyous news.



The public media coverage of our Iraqi POW saga was impossible to ignore. I, too, was glued to the television when Pfc. Lynch arrived home and addressed the nation. I found her to be a charming, humble, sincere young woman who was obviously proud to be a soldier and extremely thankful for all the love, support, and encouragement she and her family received all throughout her ordeal. I am grateful that she is alive and for the fact that we have such fine young people voluntarily serving in our military.



However, despite all the hype, emotional appeal, and the apparent dedicated lobbying efforts of many pushing their own agendas, I am vehemently opposed to attaching the label ?hero? to Pfc. Lynch.



Pfc. Lynch was a POW, not a wartime hero. A dictionary defines hero as ?any person admired for courage, nobility, etc.? From all that I have been able to learn about the circumstances surrounding her capture and her actions leading up to her rescue, I have seen nothing noble or courageous to admire.



She was a passenger in a vehicle in a convoy that took a wrong turn and ran into a deliberate ambush. Her vehicle crashed and she was so severely injured in the crash that she was knocked unconscious and unable to fight or resist capture. She was taken prisoner by her ambushers, given excellent medical care in a hospital, and was subsequently rescued from that hospital in a well-executed raid by well-trained forces.



From what I just summarized, the U.S. Army decided to give her a Bronze Star Medal with the following citation excerpts:



?For exemplary courage under fire during combat operations [from Mar 23-Apr 2, 2003 (11 days)] ? Private First Class Lynch?s bravery and heart persevered while surviving in the ambush and captivity .? [Her] belief in [her] Battalion?s motto ?One Team, One Fight? is in keeping with the finest traditions of military service. Her honor, courage and dedication reflect great credit upon herself, 507th Maintenance Company, 3d Infantry Division, Victory Corps, and The United States Army.?



I have never written an Army Bronze Star Medal recommendation package. I have seen and written many Marine Corps Meritorious Masts (authorized and awarded by company commanders) for deserving Marines that contained more truth, details, and substance than Pfc. Lynch?s pitifully weak citation above.



I suspect that Lynch?s award was pre-approved at the highest levels, and that the task of writing the award package became a mere administrative ?check-in-the-block.? I somehow cannot believe that her award package was initiated and submitted by her unit, and subsequently judged on its own merits against other submitted awards, and then approved all the way up the chain of command by her corps commander and the secretary of the Army. Some news reports allege that Army officials pressed for a Silver Star medal for Lynch, but yielded when her unit resisted.



Regardless of how and when the decision to award the Bronze Star to Pfc. Lynch was made, it proves to me that the Army today has a blatant, systemic disregard for maintaining the highest standards for its highest combat awards.



Let me share with you my analysis of Lynch?s citation as if I were a member of an awards board somewhere in Pfc. Lynch?s chain-of-command:



Since Pfc. Lynch was either unconscious or incapacitated following the vehicle crash, her ?exemplary courage under fire during combat operations? was limited to the few moments between the initiation of the ambush and the vehicle crash. I understand she did not fire her weapon at all so I wonder how she demonstrated her courage under fire.



Next, her ?bravery and heart persevered while surviving in the ambush and captivity.? That sentence tells me that she did not give up her will to live despite her extensive injuries. Being a fan of individual character, I appreciate her choice, but I do not see that character trait being justification for a combat award.



Her battalion had a catchy motto. She apparently believed in that motto. How did she show her belief in that motto, and how does her belief in that motto live up to ?the finest traditions of military service?? Was she special among the members of her battalion by actually believing in the battalion motto?



As far as her honor, courage, and dedication reflecting great credit upon herself and her entire chain-of-command, I just do not see any evidence that she did anything above and beyond surviving her horrendous injuries and not giving up her will to live. I would hope most of her fellow soldiers did or would have done the same exact things if they found themselves in the same circumstances.



I have absolutely nothing against Pfc. Lynch. My only complaint is with the leaders in Lynch?s chain of command who approved and then thrust this combat award upon her and nurtured the false myth that she is a heroic woman warrior. She was a good soldier who survived a tragic, combat-related accident of incompetence and was rescued by warriors who did more to earn the label ?hero? than she did. Where are the awards and public media coverage for those heroes who rescued Lynch?



I admit that I am biased in my assessment of POW Lynch as a mislabeled war hero. I am biased by the heroic citations of our former POWs who earned the Medal of Honor. Two examples in particular:



Air Force Maj. George E. (?Bud?) Day suffered a broken arm in three places and a badly injured knee when he was shot down in North Vietnam. He was captured, and interrogated and tortured in a prison camp. He escaped and was eventually ambushed, wounded again, re-captured, and returned to his captors. His citation noted his continuous maximum resistance as ?significant in saving the lives of fellow aviators who were still flying against the enemy.?



Navy Capt. James B. Stockdale ejected from his crippled plane and parachuted into North Vietnam where he was beaten in the streets by an angry mob, bound and captured, and refused favors in exchange for medical treatment on his severely broken leg. Recognized as the senior ranking U.S. prisoner responsible for organizing widespread resistance to their enemy captors, he was singled out for interrogation and attendant torture. Using self-disfiguration and inflicting a near fatal wound to himself as symbols of his willingness to die rather than capitulate, his actions led to his captors easing up on the harassment and torture of all prisoners, and ?earned the everlasting gratitude of his fellow prisoners and of his country.?



Let?s put these three citations in perspective. We have two men who were badly injured prior to their capture, brutally tortured over a period of many years, continuously resisted their captors? efforts, and through their self-sacrificing leadership examples inspired their fellow prisoners and helped save their fellow prisoners? lives. They both earned our nation?s highest combat honor.



Then we have Pfc. Lynch, who was given the Bronze Star, our nation?s fourth-highest combat honor, for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, suffering horrendous vehicle accident injuries that prevented her from resisting capture, receiving life-saving medical attention from her captors, and being rescued in a daring raid about two weeks after she was first captured.



What does the vast disparity in the standards for these combat awards say about the relative value and fairness of our combat awards system? Do we have a double standard for combat awards based on gender expectations?



One former Marine?s e-mail to me said it best and inspired me to write this article:



?So let?s use Lynch as the foundation for future medals. Since she never fired her weapon, then anyone who does fire it (at the enemy) receives a Silver Star. To shoot at the enemy and be fired at and even hit back, you receive the Distinguished Service Cross ?. To shoot the enemy and get hit back and actually kill the enemy, wow, you get a Purple Heart, campaign ribbon, combat action ribbon, and Medal of Honor. At the rate this is going, I am going to find out what company is authorized to sell these medals and buy stock in that company.?



My hat is off to Pfc. Lynch, the former Iraqi POW, but not to the farcical ?war hero? her shameless chain-of-command would have all of us believe she was.



Lt. Col. Matthew Dodd USMC is a Senior Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at mattdodd1775@hotmail.com.
Lynch Deserved Praise ? But Not the Medal">

http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/c...3.641040050397


Sempers,

Roger

[the humper]

Been done before and will again as previously stated above. In 1951 saw a grievous example of what you have been relating on the site. We had a Gunny who always asked a simple question that I never heard answered: "Why do you give a person a medal for doing their job?" Like the info your transferring from Soldiers for the Truth. A contributor.
SF
NC

[the humper]

BTW, she was discharged yesterday!!!!!
SF
NC

[SEATJERKER]

...all that has written, and all that has been said, It is undenied that she was held captive for 9 days, and was awarded the status, and confirmation of being a POW,...

...That alone should serve to say that unspeakable truama was inflicted upon her,...

...What was once known as "conventional war" is history,...

...prior war excluded women until their village/town/city were over run, and then they also were tortured, and raped, and murdered, or enslaved, but in this case, I don't believe it was any different for either a man, or a woman to be captured,...

...I don't ever see the truth coming out for what happened at the time of the attack, and up through her rescue, I firmly believe that she was abused in all factions, and for all of the family members involved, it has been totaly sequestered,...

...many have been other places, and times, and in other situations, none can be measured against the other as many of us can attest to,...

...