[Crimson]

I have some friends who are like why is she you're hero, she didn't do anything, or save anyone...but do you have to save someone to be you're hero? I gave them great reasons why she was but they didn't belive me...any suggestions?

[13af9]

Okay first off it is good to have a hero and she is a hero. She was in the army and she served her country. She has given other soldeirs a reason to fight. But what i dont get is why do we have soldiers still over in Iraq not getting any attention all the attention is on other topics. I am currently in Iraq and have seen two of my freinds die around me. I dont see them getting any attention. Maybe America should look at what is going on over seas not what is happening at home.

[UGAFan0829@aol.com]

Well, Crimson, First of all let me say this...I think it's pretty cool that you stand up for what you believe in, and if you believe that Jessica is a hero, then that's wonderful! I believe the same thing. While many people may ask why we think this, I know that Jessica may not have rescued anyone or anything like that...but it all comes down to one simple reason...she was a soldier FIGHTING for OUR COUNTRY! Now that's a hero, and if your friends don't think so, then let's see them go over there and be brave enought to endure all the things that Jessica and the other troops had to endure and go through. As I sat and watched that movie last night I thought to myself that I couldn't possible imagine what those people were going through, and it takes a very brave and dedicated person to do what they were doing. No doubt they have the toughest jobs ever, and they are all heros for it!

[randy]

Many of us have replied to this very question many times. The bottom line is we do not let the media, friends, or anyone else tell us who our hero is! People like us don't normally have sports figures, hoods, musicians, or anyone else into our "hero category". We put people in there that we want, and admire. It may be someone who we feel is a hero but has never done anything for anybody, except us.

I also responded one time to that question "I am not responsible for interpreting the news, and information that is delivered. If you cannot see that she is a heroic person for what she has withstood, then I cannot convince you".

Keep tough, you have a great person in your "hero category"!

[JetMaxx]

Because she served her nation during wartime....that takes courage; especially when there's no military draft. Jessica didn't have to risk her life, but she did. That makes her a hero in anyone's eyes with an ounce of patriotism and conscience.

Every man and woman who's ever worn the uniform of the United States military is a hero....especially those who did it during wartime. Those who were captured, and those injured in the line of duty are greater heroes. Those brave young men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice are the greatest American heroes of all.

America is a free country today.....you all have the freedoms you enjoy; the freedom of speech, the right to a fair trial; the freedom to worship the God of your choice (or no God at all) BECAUSE of women like Jessica Lynch and Lori Piestewa....BECAUSE of men such as Robert Dowdy and Ronald Young Jr.

In my suburban Atlanta hometown there's a large park....a beautiful park. It's named after Lt Robert Gerald Hunter. He was a brave young USAF pilot from this area who didn't come back from Vietnam....he gave his life in service of his country. Inside that park there's a memorial to Lt Hunter. There's a replica of the F-105 "Thunderchief" he flew in combat, and died in.

I go to that park whenever I get a chance....and stand at that memorial feeling so humbled that Lieutenant Hunter gave his precious young life .....because those brave American men and women who died and were maimed fighting for their country on battlefields since 1776 are the reason Americans have the freedoms today I hold so dear.

Jessica Lynch may not have killed anyone....she may not have saved anyone. But she did serve and she paid a price with pain and injury she'll probably feel until her dying day. Some of her friends didn't make it back; including her best friend Lori Piestewa. My father still grieves a half century later over two young heroes...two buddies of his in the Korean War that were lost. Jessi will be the same way about Lori and probably other friends of hers when she's 70...the same age as my father.

Tonight I feel fine....I have no pain, no numbness anywhere on my body. In fact, at age 42 I've never underwent surgery in my life. Other than a hairline fracture of my collarbone as a child, I've never suffered a broken bone; never worn a cast, nor had a pin in my ankle. The last time I was a hospital patient was 1971...I was 10 years old.

I thank God every night for brave young heroes who do feel pain, who do feel loss, and for the families of those who didn't come back. Tell your disbelieving friends to go visit a few veterans hospitals....visit a couple memorials like Hunter Park; or visit the grieving parents or widow of a soldier who gave his life for America. Maybe then they'll understand what a hero is....and why Jessi Lynch is a hero. If not, they have no conscience....in which case IMO you need some new friends.

[Crimson]

Thank you, and acually my so-called-friends, I'm not even sure they are my friends becuase of how they treat me, I'm glad I have great friends also.

[randy]

After almost 50 years, I have quit trying to identify friends. Most are just acquaintances. Some of the ones that have been my "best friend" have turned into my worst enemies because they knew the buttons to push, what my weakness and stengths are. I look to the Bible, Job had 3 friends. That suits me just fine. Oh yes, now Jessica is not a friend or acquaintance, nah, she is just a hero!

Don't let the opinions of others impact you too much. Opinions are just like belly buttons, everybody has one.

[jessefan]

QUOTE

. But what i dont get is why do we have soldiers still over in Iraq not getting any attention all the attention is on other topics. I am currently in Iraq and have seen two of my freinds die around me. I dont see them getting any attention. Maybe America should look at what is going on over seas not what is happening at home.

13af9, First off, you should be aware that this board took hardware hit a few months ago and we lost a lot of past posts that were made in the lower forums on Iraqi Freedom and General Discussion. Once we knew Pvt. Lynch was going to be ok, we started putting alot of posts in those forums about our other service members who were still at risk. We loved them all, we cared about them all, and we prayed for them all.

Initially, I had posted any notice of a servicemember who was KIA. It was hard for us to find out who was WIA because the HIPPA laws now in place have prevented a lot of reporting about the wounded (HIPPA is recent legislation that prohibits medical personnel from giving out any information that might pertain to a patient's medical history). I posted WIA whenever I could find any reported.

As this went on, two problems started to come up. With the WIAs, the reporters writing them up where sometimes deliberately encouraging things that I surmised a WIA might reget having said sometime in the future. I.e. they were using the WIA's moment of weakness and tragedy to criticise the war or the military. In other words playing the enemy's game. I started getting more selective about what to post because of that.

With the KIAs, the problem was the steady drumbeat of them occurring. I will take responsibility here. I will tell you that after a while, I started to get a sinking feeling in my stomach that I might be playing the enemies game by posted every single KIA story that turned up. Remember that the enemy cannot win a conventional war with us, so he is trying to make our people at home cry as much as possible in order to get the home front to quit before the soldiers do. I got to feeling like I was maintaining some kind of "quota" the enemy was trying to meet or exceed everyday. As if I were egging them on. I got mad at those news organizations that kept putting out bar graphs of monthly casualties for the same reason. I thought that I was doing an equivilent thing. I just had the sinking feeling that the scumbags might be watching this board and gloating over each KIA notice I added. Call me irrational, but that's the feeling I got, and I thought it was time to drop posted them all the time. But just for the record, I look at them everyday. And its hurts me to see them. They are not overlooked by me.

What's posted now is a grab bag of things. The one common thread is that an individual soldier has something to say, or has something happening to them. Or their family. Its something concrete and either a problem that needs attention or an acomplishment that's being overlooked by our biased press. Sometimes its Iraqis talking and giving their opinions where their opinion is substantial and worthwhile and not just knee-jerk mouth rot. I generally stay away from remarks by higher rankers and policy makers and stick with the servicemembers actually at risk. They are the real heroes. All of them.

On a more personal note, I myself maintain a prayer book. More often than not, I will pray daily that all our service members will be protected both spiritually and physically from the forces of evil that they are daily engaged in battle with. I also pray they may have grace and help and preservation from God should evil touch them. There are many individual names that come up in my internet scans, which prevents me from specifically praying for all I see. But I do have a list, as of now, of 31 servicemembers I specifically mention by name when I pray. I have a list of four WIAs I pray for (one of whom I know MUST be a mental WIA because of what happened), and a list of seven KIAs for whom I pray Almighty God that their loved ones will will be comforted in their agony. I confess that these specific individuals are strangers unknown to me and I to them. But they are ones for whom I have been given a burden to pray for. There is no logic to this selection. "The heart has reasons which Reason can not understand."

13af9, I humbly offer you and your comrades my thanks for you hazardous and hard service, and I wish you the protection and care of Almighty God for the remainder of your deployment.

[The Shadow]

A lot of people have questioned wether or not Jessica Lynch should be considered a hero or not.I have read some of these and some of them really give me the creeps. Here is my opinion. Jessica Lynch is a hero or heroine, whatever term may apply. She was a soldier. She went to Iraq to do her duty, even though she was scared, as was everyone else. She saw her friends and fellow soldiers die and was horribly injured herself and captured. She was a P.O.W. Has everyone forgotten what that means. Winston Churchill knew:
"Prisoner of War, yours is a melanholy state. You are in the hands of your enemy. You owe your lift to his mercy. You owe your daily bread to his compassion. You must do as he says, go where he tells you and possess your soul in patience."Ony God knows what horrors were perpetrated on her in that military hospital before she was taken to Saddam General Hospital, where the very name of Saddam Hussein was anathema. And by a kindly Iraqi and the grace of God, American Commandos rescued her. A rescue that could have easily ended in tragedy like the attempted rescue of the American hostages in Iran. A tragedy which also led the assassination of one president and the political downfall of another. Instead it was the first successfull rescue of a POW since the Second World War. And the rescue of Shoshana Johnson, Patrick Miller, Edgar Hernandez, Ernest Hudson, and the others was even a greater miracle. I still remember the trauma of all the POWs and MIA s of the Vietnam war who did not come back. You bet Jessica Lynch is a hero.

PS
I am deeply sorry that Jessica Lynch is currently involved in this Congressional Withhunt calling itself Accuracy in War Reporting. It is a waste of time. It would be much better to investigate the causes of the 507th Maintenance Unit entering Nasiryah in the first place. Jessica Lynch herself said "We were at the wrong place at the wrong time." The question is why?