Lynch a hero?

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i have no intention of play down her but what has she done to be qualified as a hero?

She made a wrong turn, she get caught, she was saved, she receives excellent treatment and recovered. Where is the hero making quality here? Shouldn't the people who saved her be more heroic? Shouldn't the Iraqi informant be more worthy?

i know that she survived a hard time and need some positive encouragement. But exposing her to the media and portraying her as a hero isn't that a bit to exaggerating? Shouldn't a piece a quiet be her priority?

Is there a defination or guidelines for hero?

 

You're spot-on, teekc. I made the same point to my mother when she was first rescued. Pfc. Lynch is deserving of our respect and admiration for her service and our sympathy for her injuries, but certainly no higher of a pedestal - especially if the whole "rescue" was staged for the media, as has been rumored.

 

Thank GOD I did not start this thread...But I've been thinking it all along!!! This girl gets a bronze star for not being able to read a map, getting ambushed by the enemy, and captured!?!?!?!?

I stubbed my toe last weekend while watching "Full Metal Jacket" Can I have a Purple Heart??!?!

Although she is a pitiable figure...She is hardly what I would call a hero! America is going off the deep-end, I'm afraid. Watch, she's going to get her own reality show!

 

She earned the bronze star because she did not run. She stood her ground and fought with valor. She was fortunate to survive.

 

She probably didn't run, because she broke her legs in the carcrash. I don't see why she should get a medal for this either. The White house must be desperately in need of heroes.

 

She did not run, nor surrender. She only stopped fighting when she ran out of ammo. She then grabbed the guns from her dead comrades and emptied them as well.

Remember that all soldiers in the United States are volunteers. They all are willing to fight and die for their country. Basically they are all heroes.

Lynch got the metal for showing valor. Bush is from Texas, and there they value something called the "Spirit of the Alamo". This basically means that anyone who chooses to fight to the bitter end - and not surrender - deserves respect.

 

Hmm, that now really sounds like a heroe's deed.

Private Lynch has an case of amnesisa, maybe the Ft. Leavenworth variant* for the time of her rescue and the circumstances of her capture are still investigated. So I think it might be a little far fetched to already know that she emptied her weapon, her comrades weapons ... sounds a little legendary to me ...

I checked the official announcements and a number of secondary comments and I didn't find anything about the circumstance of her capture except that iraqis are said to have treated her poorly. Where do you have this info from?

And it is well possible the official reports were exaggerated a bit. Some sources explicitly quoted special operations officers. Well, these specialised soldiers do not only knock down doors and kill bad guys; some of them conduct PsyOps, also known as propaganda. Additionally they are bound to orders. Which all in all means that their info is not necessarily true. And having an icon like Lynch is sure of propagandistic value.

She's sure a nice girl and had a rough time and didn't do anything wrong but for breaking a leg and surrendering no one deserves a Bronze Star. It is also kinda unsuaual for a POW to receive the Bronce Star, more on the repatriation process here. So, according to this it would be: POW-Medal + Purple Heart in case she actually got wounded in combat.
So in the end it all depends on the, yet unknown, circumstance of her capture, wether she deserves a Bronze Star or not.

* Which works like that: Sign this secrecy obligation and shut the f*** up or you'll be court martialled ...

[ July 23, 2003, 14:30: Message edited by: Ragusa ]

 

Soooo, how did they get her without her giving up?

BTW, I was drawn to this topic by the name,
I thought it was something about Lynching heroes

 

For some it will be.

 

Actually, the investigation found that her sidearm was jammed and never fired a round. They also found that very few of the weapons found at their crash site were fired....

Again, she got the BRONZE FREAKING STAR for not being able to follow a map, driving blindly into enemy territory, getting blown up, captured, and eventually rescued. I'm happy the girl got out okay...But bronze star? I think not.

This is the military definition of the award:

One of my relatives has a bronze and silver star from Korea. To earn this, he rushed two enemy machine gun emplacements and knocked them both out with grenades. He also carried two of his wounded squadmates back to a secure area from these machine gun nests. That is what these types of honors are for!

Not for someone who blundered into a terrible situation and had great fortune to survive the encounter...Or is that the exact definition of heroism?

 

Is she a hero?

In my opinion anyone who survives a firefight, capture, and rescue may as well qualify for the term hero. I'm not sure how I would have perservered under the same circumstances so I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and call her heroic.

As for giving her a bronze star. Sure why not. She was the first American POW ever rescued and if what is being claimed is even close to the truth she probably deserves a bronze star. Heck, it isn't like she is getting the Congressional Medal of Honor.

I think a better question for this board is "What should we think of people who feel the need to question if she is a hero?" Are your lives that vacant that you feel the need to attack/question anyone who is enjoying their fifteen minutes of fame?

Is there anything to be gained by questioning her honor?

 

As it seems every war needs a hero and since Lynch is a pretty young woman who happened to be captured (doesn't matter how) and survived the process and had a spectacular resque and Iraqies showed her on tv and the US administration is in a desperate need for a hero. We have a hero
As for the hero issue as we see there is already a sales period in the US administration ethics so why are we startled by this promo decision?

 

Pfc. Lynch isn't making herself out to be a hero; it's being done to her. I for one am certainly not questioning her valor or performance. My skepticism is directed to the administration who feels the need to blow everything out of proportion and make her larger-than-life.

 

Maybe I haven't been paying close enough attention to the news. What has the administration/military done to make her larger than life? All I saw was that her hometown had a welcome back parade.

 

Well, a hero is someone ho ghoes into harms way willingly and does things others hesitate to do, risking his life. And now a person who's having bad luck and a rough time is something else - fine - that's what POW-Medals and perhaps Purple Hearts are there for.

It was no first. Remember the US pilots who in WW-II escaped through occupied france or POWs who were helped escaping from german POW camps ... She didn't even free herself - so if anyone deserved the Bronze Star perhaps her rescuers.
A medal for virtue and gallantry in combat isn't something that you hand out like cookies to children, as a reward for getting captured. There are adequate decorations for that already.
And so it's not about taking away her 15 min of fame. It's about the people who use her for PR.

And as I understand it that's what Sir Belisarius is referring to.

 

Well, a hero sacrifies something. Like a movie career to go to war - like for example James Steward who joined the airforce in WW-II and flew combat missions over germany, putting his life at risk, and many others. Seen anyone of todays stars in combat?

Just as the term *star* is beeing reduced to a mere *celebrity* the same happens to heroes. The shot down pilot of the Kosovo war became a hero - for getting shot down, hiding as trained and beeing picked up. Miners who get caught underground are heroes - for surviving passively under difficult circumstances waiting for their rescuers. Lynch has a car accident, becomes POW and is rescued in a PR blitz, and becomes a national icon - a pale woman on a stretcher suffering under the infameous arabs blablabla

If anyone deserves the medal then the rescuers - not the victim - but we want to hug anyone. Group hugs for Private Lynch. And a Bronze Star. And now smile nice that I get a nice pic with the flag behind you ...

Beeing a hero is of little worth today. The firemen of 9/11 were called heros, but only a year later their jobs were cut. These are symptoms of our time. Nothing's of permanent value.

Like Honesty. Ok, we lied about iraq - but see: The land is free and the tyrrant's sons are dead!

 

Remember the movie "Wag the Dog" and how they invented the hero fighter-pilot and soon everyone was throwing shoes in the trees?

We need heros ... even if they are .... you get my point.

 

The real hero's are the individuals who have enough sand in them to stand up and resist going to fight in this thing in the first place. I truly pity the military men and women who are asked to go prosecute an action based on the immoral foreign policy of a despicable regime.

More to the topic - Lynch does not deserve the Bronze Star and to award one to her, lessens the value of those given who are truly deserving.

 

I agree. Congrats for saying it so short and precise.

 

Who is using her for PR? For what purpose?

I'm not sure what you are trying to say. Are you trying to say that the administration is attempting to convince the citizens and our allies that everything is going great because of Lynch? I think that is kind of naive. The rescue of Lynch is without a doubt a feel good story here in the United States. To the best of my knowledge it hasn't changed a single persons opinion of the war with Iraq.