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A New Picture of Jessica's gear

#1 User is offline   ticker 

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Posted 01 February 2005 - 05:21 AM


user posted image

This is a photo of some of Jessica's gear that was recovered by U.S. Marines after the ambush but before the rescue. That must be the 'hundred mile an hour tape' with Jessica's name and rank written on it, stuck to the inside of the uniform. Thanks to Matt for letting me know about the photo.

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#2 User is offline   Laracroft 

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Posted 01 February 2005 - 06:59 PM

I wonder why the wrong rank
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#3 User is offline   ANDY 

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Posted 07 February 2005 - 06:12 PM

I think Jessica was promoted shortly before she deployed for Iraq.She must not have had time to change it.



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#4 User is offline   Matt Wiser 

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Posted 08 February 2005 - 03:50 AM

One possible explanation: that gear was issued to her when she arrived at the 507th, and that Jessi never put new tape on with her new rank. The pics of her and Lori on the day they deployed show her as a PFC-so she'd been promoted before deploying. (Just an educated guess on my part)
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#5 User is offline   Laracroft 

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Posted 08 February 2005 - 09:50 AM

The army is so rank conscious. When we got rready for deployment they went over everything like 20 times. Im surprised.
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#6 User is offline   gwalker 

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Posted 09 February 2005 - 10:13 AM

As noted to Matt in previous message - this piece of body armor as well as Lori's and Lynch's cut-off NBC suit pants (with blood stains) were recovered by Marines searching the area BEFORE the rescue (Operation Scorpion). It was our first hard evidence that both women had survived not only the ambush, but were alive and captive - at least up until the point of this equipment being recovered.

This message was one of a continuing flow of information traffic received at CFLCC-MAIN at Camp Doha, Kuwait, and studied by the Command there to include the special operations integration detachment which oversaw/reported on the evolving search / rescue effort being developed for the survivors of the ambush, to include direct intra-face with the Task Force 20 fusion cell at Camp Doha and co-located with the SOF fusion cell working in support of CFLCC-MAIN.

Rank-wise the SOP was for soldiers to mark their body armor, as well as NBC suits, with duct or "100-mile an hour" tape featuring their rank, name, and unit. Reason? The body armor and NBC uniforms got put on and taken off often, multiple times per day, due to both work and the oft SCUD alerts the kabals, or military camps in the KU desert, came under during the build-up and during the initial week of the ground war.

This equipment was dumped, placed, hung up, or otherwise left laying around and due to sizing and such name tapes such as the one featured were logical - thankfully the Iraqi Feyadeen/SSO fighters who captured the two women did not think to remove the tapes - as the NBC suits did not have sewn name tags as this would puncture the NBC suit and make it useless against chemical/nerve agent contamination.

Lynch's NBC pants were cut from her body - and blood stained - which told us at the MAIN that she was either wounded or injured - or both - and her body armor showed signs of fragmentation penetration - leading to initial concern of wounds experienced either during the horrific ambush her convoy suffered, or post-ambush trauma injuries. We did have information early on that Lynch was beaten immediately upon being discovered / captured at the site of the Humm-V she was riding in. The initial feeling, or sense, at the Main upon this gear being found where and in the condition it was led many of us to believe both young women were already dead and buried in a garbage pit somewhere in NAS -

Further, it was long known, expected, and in my case prepared for by the instruction of US soldiers preparing to enter Baghdad with the CFLCC early entry command post (EECP) that not only would female, but male soldiers captured by the FEY and SSO, in specific, would be beaten, tortured, and killed - their bodies buried in shallow, make-shift graves on the battlefield. This is historically the case with respect to Desert Storm, the first gulf war, and Iraqi security and intelligence force(s)' behavior - events leading up to the ambush of the 507th and involving U.S. and UK troops in the south at the onset of the ground war saw both US and UK soldiers, at the time all male, captured in battle and murdered by their Iraqi captors. One US Marine was reported captured and hung in a town square in the south - recovery efforts to locate and bring out his body were mounted; the Brits had two soldiers captured in one firefight - by using extra ordinary means they discovered where the two had been taken (a Baa'th Party HQ) and an ad hoc rescue mission was undertaken to recover them (this within 48 hours of their capture). Over 100 Iraqi fighters were killed in the contact, with one BRIT POW found alive, the other dug up from a shallow grave where he'd been buried after being murdered.

The photos of US servicemen executed by the Iraqi security forces as shown on Al Jazerra were seen as part of the original video program at CFLCC MAIN and they told us that US POWs were as good as dead if captured and not found/recovered within literally hours. No other enemy faced by the US or coalition in modern times had taken this posture with respect to captured forces - this was part of the fledgling insurgency doctrine of the Iraqi underground and an announced aspect of Saddam's "secret weapon" which he challenged the Coalition with - which some took to be WMD but others understood was full scale urban terrorism and guerrilla warfare.

Lynch, as she herself states time and again, never made any claims other than having survived the most brutal, immediate, condensed form of the POW experience that any US service person in both the 20th and 21st century has lived to tell about. Her exploitation at the hands of the military's over-eager public affairs spin doctors, as well as the equally at fault and non-correcting national and world media, is the pathetic side of this story with no one who was / is responsible required or courageous / ethical enough to take appropriate responsibility for the continued raping (of Lynch's post rescue / POW reputation), exploitation, and deception of not only Lynch but of those captured with her / found murdered and buried at the FEY/SSO command and control site co-located at Saddam General in NAS.

Finally, the nonsense regarding the award of the Bronze Star for Achievement to Lynch, along with her Purple Heart and POW medal, is both ignorant and deliberate as such. The BSM for Achievement + those other awards noted is the standard package of awards for someone in her position. She did not receive a Bronze Star for Valor, which would indicate specific acts of herorism or courage under fire - which she herself has stated to not only those who debriefed her upon her safe return to KU then Germany - but which she has likewise stated time and again in the press as a civilian now. I am very familiar with the Army Awards and Decorations system, and how it sometimes works and how it sometimes does not, and how it is often - too often - manipulated in favor of policy (good or bad) and political lack of courage at the highest levels of our GOV and armed forces. To somehow blame, as COL David Hackworth has done (Dave, sorry my friend, but you are dead wrong on this one) is both inaccurate and deceptive. Lynch was recommended for the awards she was ultimately approved / authorized - she did not put herself in for any of the three noted - the narratives of these awards / as such awards are public information and thus subject to FOIA / public inspection - release / will reflect not only the public forum information supporting such awards, but that information provided by others on the scene at both the ambush site and at the Command & Control center at Saddam General in NAS before, during, and after the rescue - plus those statements made by Lynch during her debriefings at the hands of military intelligence professionals and Other Government Agency intelligence interests.

And on any evidence, such as recovered print, photo, and video documentation having to do with the capture, interrogation, and treatment of Lynch and Lori in specific - which is today highly classified.

Bronze Stars for Achievement were and are daily awarded to soldiers, both enlisted and commissioned, who accomplish tasks and performances at a level that is meritorious - with the peacetime opposite of the Bronze Star for Achievement being the Meritorious Service Medal (MSM). Again, the military hasn't taken the time nor made the effort to properly educate either the media or the public, and the Media simply doesn't care enough about its own Canons of Journalism to do its job as well as it should be required to.

Lynch's performance as a soldier met the requirements for the BSM for Achievement - period.

Greg Walker, author
"At the Hurricane's Eye - US Special Operations Forces from Vietnam to Desert Storm - Ivy Books"


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#7 User is offline   hhardley@hotmail.com 

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Posted 11 February 2005 - 07:56 PM

I just checked my BDU (battle dress uniform) and I don't think the photo shows Jessica's uniform. It might be her chemical protective suit. I think the 507th donned their chemical protective suits when they crossed the border into Iraq. The laundering instructions under her name might reveal if this is her CPS. The top line should say what it is. I was wondering why she had her PV2 rank on her gear. We updated all our gear before deploying to SWA in 1990. Captain Robert H. Gibbons, U.S. Army, Retired
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#8 User is offline   Soprano84 

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Posted 11 February 2005 - 10:39 PM

I think you may be right....the camo pattern's wrong, too. It's the green/brown/black I have on my old gear...great for forest...not so good for desert...and wasn't the 507th was in DCU (desert camo uniform) when they got into the firefight? The famous pic of Jessiand Lori together shoed them in the DCUs...can;t think of a reason why they'd bring forest camos if they laready had the desert ones.

Chem suits....*shudder* the qualifying tests...ALWAYS happening in the heat of summer...
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#9 User is offline   pamino 

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Posted 12 February 2005 - 08:17 PM

I think this shows Jessica's body armor- I seem to remember the news story saying this was found in a house near the ambush site.
I also recall seeing pictures at the time of soldiers wearing Forest pattern body armor over Desert pattern uniforms- there was obviously a shortage of armor in the Desert pattern, maybe the front-line units got the Desert pattern and folks like the 507th kept their Forest pattern .
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#10 User is offline   ticker 

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Posted 25 February 2005 - 03:40 AM

QUOTE (gwalker @ Feb 9 2005, 12:15 PM)

Finally, the nonsense regarding the award of the Bronze Star for Achievement to Lynch, along with her Purple Heart and POW medal, is both ignorant and deliberate as such. The BSM for Achievement + those other awards noted is the standard package of awards for someone in her position. She did not receive a Bronze Star for Valor, which would indicate specific acts of herorism or courage under fire - which she herself has stated to not only those who debriefed her upon her safe return to KU then Germany - but which she has likewise stated time and again in the press as a civilian now. I am very familiar with the Army Awards and Decorations system, and how it sometimes works and how it sometimes does not, and how it is often - too often - manipulated in favor of policy (good or bad) and political lack of courage at the highest levels of our GOV and armed forces. To somehow blame, as COL David Hackworth has done (Dave, sorry my friend, but you are dead wrong on this one) is both inaccurate and deceptive. Lynch was recommended for the awards she was ultimately approved / authorized - she did not put herself in for any of the three noted - the narratives of these awards / as such awards are public information and thus subject to FOIA / public inspection - release / will reflect not only the public forum information supporting such awards, but that information provided by others on the scene at both the ambush site and at the Command & Control center at Saddam General in NAS before, during, and after the rescue - plus those statements made by Lynch during her debriefings at the hands of military intelligence professionals and Other Government Agency intelligence interests.

And on any evidence, such as recovered print, photo, and video documentation having to do with the capture, interrogation, and treatment of Lynch and Lori in specific - which is today highly classified.

Bronze Stars for Achievement were and are daily awarded to soldiers, both enlisted and commissioned, who accomplish tasks and performances at a level that is meritorious - with the peacetime opposite of the Bronze Star for Achievement being the Meritorious Service Medal (MSM). Again, the military hasn't taken the time nor made the effort to properly educate either the media or the public, and the Media simply doesn't care enough about its own Canons of Journalism to do its job as well as it should be required to.

Lynch's performance as a soldier met the requirements for the BSM for Achievement - period.

Greg Walker, author
"At the Hurricane's Eye - US Special Operations Forces from Vietnam to Desert Storm - Ivy Books"

Thanks, gwalker for that very informative post.

About the controversy being manufactuered by some over Jessica's medals, your comments deserve a wider audience I think. Maybe reading this would better inform those perpetuating the nonsense. Soldiers For The Truth, which is tied to Col. Hackworth should publish this as a dissenting opinion.
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#11 User is offline   gwalker 

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Posted 01 March 2005 - 01:14 AM

Both Lynch and Lori's NBC suits were recovered in the same location - along with their body armor -

The camo pattern is irrelevant - the vast majority of body armor deployed was/is forest pattern. Logistic / support units often deployed with older style/pattern body armor - if they deployed with body armor at all - with Interceptor body armor / new pattern going over with SOF and combat troops.

The rank issue is likewise irrelevant as she marked her body armor with the rank she was at the time it was issued to her. Promotion to PFC either comes with one year of college upon entry into the Army, or promotion upon time served after entry / basic training and the MOS producing school being successfully completed. Changing the name tape on a piece of body armor unseen and essentially used only to ID one's equipment from someone else's probably wasn't much of a priority to Lynch and many others - much to do about nothing.

Lynch's award ceremony took place almost as soon as she was able to stand long enough in a uniform to receive said awards. As noted, it is the standard award packet for someone in her position. A Bronze Star for Meritorious Achievement under the circumstances and conditions she survived captivity is appropriate - particulalry given the full extent of the beating(s), torture, and sexual assault(s) made against her from the onset of her capture until her release have yet to be fully described via either Lynch herself (certainly her privilege) or the United States military / Government.

And such award is hinged, to a great degree, on the classified debriefings of Lynch by military intelligence post rescue / recovery of she and her dead comrades.

In reality, those objecting or decrying this and other aspects of the Lynch story are doing so in a void created by their own lack of insight, access to information regarding the overall operation and how it was conceived, planned, conducted, and culminated. If they do have such information, it is my professional observation they don't know how to properly translate it into the far bigger picture than was Jessica Lynch, or they have their own drum to beat regardless and therefore choose to ignore the former in favor of the latter.

For years the public account of the Son Tay Raid was accepted as fact until I revisited what is perhaps one of the most famous of all modern day POW rescue efforts in both "At the Hurricane's Eye" (Chapters 5 and 6) and in "Behind the Lines" (Jan/Feb 1998, #27, Son Tay - A Story of Success). The same is true of Operation Scorpion - in which Jessica Lynch was but a part of a far more complicated, involved, executed CSAR effort conducted during a critical point in the ground war and with resources and coordinations yet discussed in the public forum -

GW
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