[mainzman]

Re: Rescuing Downed US Troops

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: January 24, 2004

"Harrison native instrumental in rescuing downed U.S. troops

By Jennifer Bails VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH

Hundreds of American troops who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan owe their lives, at least in part, to Lt. Col. Keith "Sully" Sullivan.

As the director of the U.S. Central Command Joint Search and Rescue Center, or JSRC, on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, Sullivan supervised all emergency rescue operations for conflicts after Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America. He is a native of Harrison Township, Allegheny County.

His team was responsible for making sure that any soldiers who were downed or stranded in enemy territory during the two wars made it home safely.

This was no small task in a combat zone that spanned almost 7 million square miles, from the vast deserts of the Middle East to the rugged mountains of southern Asia.

Yet under Sullivan's leadership, the JSRC coordinated 600 missions and rescued more than 800 American soldiers -- among them Pfc. Jessica Lynch, the first prisoner of war to be liberated successfully since World War II.

Lynch and seven other members of the Army's 507th Maintenance Company were ambushed by Iraqi forces last March near Nasiriyah and later snatched from their captors by Special Forces in a rescue organized by the JSRC.

"I keep telling our guys that our measurement is not how many people we've picked up, but how many we've left behind," said Sullivan, a 1980 graduate of Highlands High School. "And so far, we haven't left anyone behind."

Sullivan recently was recognized for his "dogged determination and superior leadership" by the Air Rescue Association, a nationwide group of more than 3,500 active and retired military personnel dedicated to keeping alive the spirit of air rescue.

Last month, the association announced that it awarded Sullivan the greatest honor in his field -- the 2003 Richard T. Kight Award -- for his efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Known as the "father of air rescue," the late Brig. Gen. Kight developed in the 1940s many of the tactics and equipment still used in present-day recovery efforts. Kight also coined the rescue motto: "These things we do that others may live."

Sullivan is the first person to be bestowed with the annual Kight Award twice. He also received the honor 10 years ago for missions he flew as a rescue pilot over Iceland.

"It's the one and only award that the Air Rescue Association gives out," said the group's spokesman, John Holm. "It really speaks highly of your hometown boy."

Sullivan, 42, is the son of Tom and Marty Sullivan, originally from Harrison Township. He is married to his high school sweetheart, the former Debbie Svitek, whose parents, Richard and Lillian, still live in Brackenridge, Allegheny County. The couple and their three teenage children live near Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

Sullivan said he wanted to be a helicopter pilot since the ninth grade and went straight to the U.S. Air Force Academy after high school.

The last two years have been a challenge for the career soldier, who regularly works 18- to 20-hour days and has spent only a few months at home.

Sullivan is very humble about his accomplishments, emphasizing the teamwork and technology involved in making sure that stranded soldiers are rescued.

"I want to say it's like a dance, but it's more like a mob scene," said Sullivan, likening the wartime atmosphere in the JSRC to the computer nerve centers depicted in fantasy movies such as "War Games."

The center uses data from satellites, hand-held radios and other intelligence sources to try to locate and coordinate missions to recover downed soldiers. Missions can last from minutes to days and involve hundreds of people in different branches of the military.

"You are in absolute fear that you are going to mess up and make a decision that ends up killing somebody," Sullivan said. "Your professionalism is the only thing that keeps you fighting through."

It also is the job of the JSRC to make sure that rescued soldiers receive the medical, physical and psychological assistance they need upon return -- a process called repatriation.

Sullivan said Pfc. Lynch was especially "broken up" after her capture and highly publicized recovery.

"I've exchanged a couple of notes with Miss Jessica, and she signed a couple of books for us," Sullivan said. "My section was the one responsible for developing intelligence for where she was and facilitating her liberation, so she's very close to our hearts."

Lynch's story has been the subject of ongoing debate about whether the military overdramatized her rescue and spread false stories that she went down shooting in the Iraqi ambush.

Sullivan was reluctant to weigh in on this controversy.

"I know a little bit too much," he said.

But Sullivan did have words of praise for Lynch and for the Special Forces troops who rescued her.

"She has certainly met the enemy and returned with honor," Sullivan said. "I think the U.S. official history is pretty clear on that."

Sullivan hopes to be able to spend some time with his family in the coming months, he said. And he has been speaking with military leaders about how to use the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan to try to improve air rescue procedures.

"But sometimes unless you do something wrong, it's hard to make changes," Sullivan said. "And we did a lot of things right."

Jennifer Bails can be reached at jbails@tribweb.com or (724) 226-4679.
© 2004 by The Tribune-Review Publishing Co."

[Dilligafst]

Hey Mainzman:

Interesting article. Thanks. Was kind of curious, though, what Sullivan meant when he said "I Know a little too much." I assume that it refers to the "broken up," he mentioned earlier.

It still is amazing that she survived it at all.

[mainzman]

It's an interesting article. But you can thank Matt Wiser because he found the article and asked me to post it on the web site for people to read. It's just to prove that there's alot that goes on behind the scenes that people don't know about.

[Dilligafst]

Yep, that's true. Am sure that there is more behind the scenes stuff too. In some ways, I wish it would come out. In other ways, I wish that would stay hidden. I have a cousin that was in the operations room at the Pentagon when the 507th got massacred and when Jessica got rescued. Been trying to get him to tell what happened and what he knew:) He's now retired, Army, but he still will just give me vague references:) I'll keep trying:)

[mainzman]

The thing is this. It's almost been three years since the attack o]n the 507th and Jessica's rescue. Maybe I'm beating a dead horse, but "why" is the military/gov't keeping what really happened to the 507th and "especially" Jessica a "secret"? Could it be that they feel the public can't stomach the truth in regards to what happened to Jessica or is it something deeper? Most people who have heard of Jessica's situation are, by now, able to read between the lines and see what happened. Maybe time willl tell, maybe it won't.

[Matt Wiser]

Mainzman, does the old line from Jack Nicholson ring a bell? "You can't handle the truth!" probably sums up at least part of the reasoning why what happened to Jessica and the others is still secret. Though anyone who goes through SERE knows...my cousin and her roomie for example. Fear of recruiting/retention of female soldiers is likely another reason-which may or may not be unjustified. Lastly, there are a number of those involved in the ambush and subsequent events involving the POWs-not just Jessica, but the others, as well as the killing of Sgt. Walters, who are in custody, but not all of them are locked up. Some are known to be pushing up daisies, while some are still outstanding. Preservation of witness testimony from Jessica and the others-remember the Dateline interview where they alluded to an ongoing war-crimes investigation-would be important. There may be things that Jessica herself is the only American witness to, so CID and JAG are likely treading very cautiously. There is also the question of who would try the perps-since they are likely responsible for crimes against Iraqis as well, so that has to be worked out with the Iraqi govt, though U.S. policy is that crimes committed against Americans will be tried by American courts. No single answer, though, but this should help.

[Dilligafst]

Hey Matt:

I have a question. Am wondering how Jessica could have been a witness to anything since she was, happily, unconscious through it all and only woke up in the hospital with doctors and nurses watching over her.

I'm sure that most of the perpetrators, the Fedayeen fanactics, that did it to Jessica and the others are either under the sand or have vanished into the Iraqi landscape. I seriously doubt that any of those still alive will be tried, much less found.

And I feel that you are on to something more than you think about the fear of recruiting/retaining female troops if the truth about what happened to Jessica really came out. It's probably a huge fear in the Pentagon as more and more female troops are getting shipped over to Iraq in this never-ending thing.

[Matt Wiser]

Remember the passages from the book about Jessica's medical records indicating she was assaulted? And the first phone call home? "Daddy, they broke my arm" and "The Iraqi man broke my arm." I personally know three female naval aviators
(one of whom is a cousin) who went through SERE training before deploying in '04 for a six-month cruise on USS Harry Truman. All three were told in SERE that some very nasty things were done to Jessica, and that the info came from Jessica
herself. Also, remember the Rod Nordland piece in Newsweek? Three U.S. military sources said that Jessica was only slightly injured in the Humvee crash, and at least one of the Iraqi doctors concurred in that, he believed she was beaten. Add
Mohammed's admittedly third-hand account from an eyewitness to her capture, and the CNN piece where the Iraqi doctors at Saddam General said that "she suffered from them (guards)." Reporter: "They beat her, he says."
I also know a Marine 1st LT (he should be a Captain now), who was in-country last year, and that when his unit took prisoners, they were taken to Camp Bucca in Southern Iraq for processing/interrogation/detention. He said it's common knowledge amongst the guards there (from all four services, plus British and Italians) that several of those responsible for Jessica's....abuse are locked up there, and that JAG and CID are looking for a few others. The military wants them ALL. Either in custody or confirmed pushing up daisies. I wouldn't be suprised if the Army does want a trial, and Jessica having to keep quiet before any proceedings would be something a prosecutor would want. Protecting the case would be very important. And a note: some WW II trials didn't take place until 3-4 years after the
end. It took time to gather evidence and asssemble cases, especially in the Pacific.
Protecting the case might explain Jessica having to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement.....

[Matt Wiser]

I had a visit over the weekend with an old friend from college, who is now an Army officer (via ROTC) and back from Afghanistan. He served under an SF colonel named John Tobin, and Tobin told my friend some interesting things about Jessica. Tobin told my friend that Jessica was going to tell a lot more about her
capture and captivity than what's been in the book and the movie, but the Army,
for reasons known only to them, pressured her to stop. I asked my friend if Tobin
knew what the Army did, and the answer was no, he didn't know, but is curious as
to why. He did add that the Army pushed pretty hard. He then changed the subject...

[tekteam26]

[Beretta63]

That's pretty interesting information there.

Though,looking at it, unfortunately I'm not all that surprised that Army would take that sort of stance, for whatever reason they did.