Did Jessica Lynch desearve the Bronze Star?

Did Jessica Lynch desearve the Bronze Star?

  • Yes

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No

    Votes: 0 0.0%

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I'm with Dtop and Rndrsafe on this one. She was captured while executing a mission for the USArmy, in the face of an opposing force. It doesn't say "without making any mistakes whatsoever while under fire"!
I've never been in combat, but I HAVE been second guessed by armchair types who'd never tried to do my job. Any of you guys who talk about her convoy getting lost... ever TRIED convoying in the DESERT? It's easy enough to get lost. Oh, and what you guys seem to forget, is somebody on the ground, RIGHT THERE WITH HER, had to put her in for that medal. They apparently felt she deserved it.
 
From my own post "distinguishes himself... by heroic or meritorious achievement or service... under any of the following circumstances:"

Meaning one must distinguish himself by heroic or meritorious achievment while he serves under the following conditions, not just serve under them.

I am not saying anything denouncing the fact she colunteered to serve her country. Of course she did, and of course she should be recognized for it, just like everyone else in the US military. My argument is about her being awarded the bronze star.
 
FutureRanger, you don't know when to leave well enough alone. You will not make it in the Ranger Regiment with that know-it-all attitude. It would be healthy for you to learn when to leave well enough alone and stop trying to be right, especially when you have proved you have no clue as to what in the hell you are talking about. When you've become half the soldier Miss Lynch is, get back to me on this.

Have a very good day.
 
Merit just means "you did good." Someone who went through what she did Deserves to hear that. Alternate scenario: "I've just been released from the clutches of the enemy! It was horrible, and my friends are dead!"
"Yeah, whatever, get back to work!" That's no way to treat a soldier, who is asked to make the ultimate sacrifice. Jessica Lynch VERY nearly made that sacrifice, and a pat on the back isn't too much to ask.
 
Thanks RnderSafe, for the explanation about the bronze star with and without the "V".
That changes the case a bit.
I didn't know that there were two different versions of it, the media made it look like there was only one, and that you had to fulfill all the "V" requirements to get it..

by heroic or meritorious achievement or service, not involving participation in aerial flight, under any of the following circumstances:

(1) While engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States.

She was enagged (in some way) in action against an enemy.
Heroic, no...
Meritorious, maybe..

I'm not so sure about my "no" vote anymore, but it's still more No than Yes...

There's two other factors that I would like an answer to before I eventually change my mind:
Did everyone else in Lynch's convoy get the medal? (PFC Miller did?)
How many soldiers has been awarded the bronze star during and after the Iraqi war?

What makes me sick about this case is the media.
It's really hard to find out what's true or not true.
And with all that attention she just had to be rewarded something....
But making movies and books about this is taking it waaay to long, IMO.
I'm convinced that if she was a guy she wouldn't get all that attention (or the medal?)
PFC Miller, as I believe is the real hero here, didn't get any attention at all.
But this is not her fault, and people going after her personally, demanding that she returns her medal makes me even sicker...

I think she deserves a medal of some kind for the media circus and all the unjust criticism....
 
The point is, no one here is fit to comment on if she deserved her award or not. As far as I know, none of you were there .. none of you have been a POW, in other words - no one is qualified to make a judgement.

Bronze stars are often handed out like candy during war-time, are we going to start questioning everyone's medals? Would you like me to list mine and why they were given so you can tell me if I deserved them or not? Or how about we pick a former MOH winner, and discuss if he deserved his MOH or not.

The Army saw fit to award her the bronze star for her service. She deserved it. Period.
 
RnderSafe said:
The point is, no one here is fit to comment on if she deserved her award or not. As far as I know, none of you were there .. none of you have been a POW, in other words - no one is qualified to make a judgement.

I do partially disagree with you there RnderSafe...
Everyone is allowed to make a judgement based on what they know.
I did not serve in WW1 or 2, but I still have some strong oppinions about several of the battles, leaders and soldiers...

I wasn't there when Lynch's convoy got ambushed, but based on what I have heard in forums and in the news, my own military experience, my experiences from conflict zones abroad, I can make my own judgement whether she deserved the medal or not..
BUT when I get additional information, like your info about the plain bronze star and the "V", I can be willing to change my mind.

This is what forums like this are for, exchanging information and learning from others.

I know that medals can be handed out "like candy" sometimes.
But that does not justify that Lynch got hers..
My company was involved in a lot of different situations abroad that, compared to Lynch's case, should have led to a LOT of bronze stars being handed out, but it did not happen.
And that's a good thing, because I personally believe that medals like that should be handed out very carefully, because medals like that should really mean something.
Not just that you happened to be at the wrong place to the wrong time...

I know people here in Norway that has similiar medals as the bronze star, that does NOT deserve it! (I was there in some of the cases...)
And I do know others that does not have the medal, but really deserves it. (I was also there..)

Based on what I have heard and know a this point I still do not belive that she deserved the Bronze Star.
This whole Lynch thing is a big media circus, with the heroic "rescue" with blanks, the "Saving Private Lynch" movie and all, and I'm not so sure if she would have got the medal if she was a he, and didn't get all the media coverage...

I feel real sorry for Lynch because of all the negative attention this case has brought to her, and the facts that she was injured and captured.
And the reason why this case upsets me is again the way the media has handled it!
 
You're mixing the publicity with the event. It is annoying, from the movie, to the book .. to all of the money exchanging hands. But that isn't real, that isn't what happened THEN .. that is what happened after.

There are a lot of BS stories out there about her and her rescue. More assumptions than fact.

I've been in combat, I've served in conventional and non-conventional units during combat. My experiences still do NOT put me there during the event of her capture. I've been a student and instructor at SERE, I've learned, as well as taught lads, how to survive situations just like hers. but it STILL doesn't put me in her place. And if not being there isn't good enough, then remember the information out about the event is mostly incorrect. Let us not follow in the media's footsteps.
 
I found this article on military.com, thought it was relevant here.

Lynch Ponders Survival, Celebrity
Associated Press
April 1, 2004,


CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Fame has come at a price for former POW Jessica Lynch. Since the supply clerk's wounding and rescue made her the Iraq war's most famous soldier a year ago, well-wishers have been drawn to her at every public appearance, whether at the diner near her home or at the Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills.

"I'm just a country girl. It's something I'm not used to, and I probably never will be," the 20-year-old Lynch told The Associated Press. "I do want my life back to normal, because it's hard - it's so hard. But at the same time I'm like - wow, I get to go to New York, I get to go to Hollywood. I get to hang out with people like Britney and Leonardo."

With help from publicists, the young woman who joined the Army to see the world and receive an education has made a handful of appearances since last year's book tour for Rick Bragg's biography, "I Am A Soldier, Too."

Lynch, still a few weeks shy of legal drinking age, won an award from Glamour magazine (where she met Britney Spears); rode in the Gator Bowl parade; starred at Gov. Bob Wise's State of the State speech; attended parties after the Golden Globes (where she met Leonardo DiCaprio); and took a three-day jaunt to the Bahamas after christening a cruise ship.

She tries to oblige every photo and autograph request, most of which come from young girls. But she has turned down scores of other requests, including offers to speak at schools across the country.

"I feel bad, but I can't do them all," Lynch said.

As she grapples with fame, she also struggles with questions both personal (When should I go to college? When should I get married?) and philosophical (Why did I survive when others didn't?).

"I mean, obviously, there has to be a reason," she said. "I don't know what it is yet. So I have to explore all these things to figure it out."

This month, Lynch will do the first of four events for Get Motivated, a national business seminar company that hires speakers such as former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev.

Her message will be "if I can do it, you can," Lynch said. "I was put in one of the worst situations there is out there. So if you're having problems with your boyfriend or whatever, you can get through it."

Lynch's whirlwind started March 23, 2003, when her 507th Maintenance Company got lost in the southern Iraqi desert and was ambushed in Nasiriyah.

With her vehicle stalled and her rifle jammed, Pfc. Lynch hopped into a Humvee driven by her best friend, Pfc. Lori Piestewa. The vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and crashed. The 11 American soldiers who died in the ambush included Piestewa and three others in the Humvee: 1st Sgt. Robert Dowdy, Sgt. George Buggs and Spc. Edward Anguiano.

Lynch suffered two spinal fractures, nerve damage and a shattered right arm, right foot and left leg. According to medical records cited in her biography, she was also sodomized, apparently during a three-hour gap that she cannot recall.

Her videotaped rescue by special forces from a Nasiriyah hospital on April 1 branded Lynch a hero at a time the U.S. war effort seemed bogged down.

It also stirred complaints of U.S. government media manipulation. Early reports - never stemming from Lynch or her family and later disproved - had the flyweight, blonde, former Wirt County Miss Congeniality suffering knife and bullet wounds while fighting off attackers until running out of ammunition.

Lynch agreed to the AP interview on condition that she not be asked about her Iraq ordeal. She repeated her charge that she felt "kind of used" by officials who spread false stories about her. But she declined to discuss the politics of the Iraq war.

Still hobbled and using a cane, Lynch spends several hours a day in rehabilitation therapy. Nerve damage has left her unable to feel her left foot, though doctors hope she will regain its full use. The Army awarded her a medical retirement and an 80 percent disability pension.

"They say a millimeter a day the nerves grow" from where her back was damaged, she said. "They're giving me another year. After that, it might not be looking so good. But there's still hope."

One of the reasons for her survival, as she sees it, has been to allow her to tell her story to the families of the four soldiers who died next to her.

She created a foundation with proceeds from her $1 million book deal. The Jessica Lynch Foundation's goal is to educate children of veterans.

Last month Lynch postponed her June wedding to Sgt. Ruben Contreras, whom she began dating two years ago when they were stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas. She would not discuss details but said they plan to wed next year.

Eventually, Lynch said, she will go to college to work toward her goal of teaching kindergarten. Her face lights up whenever she discusses the job, or children.

Lynch is uncertain whether her wounds will prevent her from starting her own family.

"I do have a lot of problems with everything inside, so I don't know if that'll affect it or not. I hope not, because I'd love to have children," she said. With a shy smile, she added, "Love it."
 
Maybe my Norwenglish isn't that good, but I do not assume that the media stories are correct.

I have seen several stories in the news, that I did experience when I was working abroad.
And they were almost NEVER true...
So I do never assume any more that what I see on TV or read in the news about conflict/war is the thruth...

I can of course not put myself in her place, and I would never want to experience what she did.
But my comments about her deserving the bronze star or not is based on my view (what I have read and heard from others) on the bronze star, and what you have to do to be rewarded it.

When this thread first was started I believed the bronze star to be more like our medal similar to the silver star or MOH (we basically have only one medal like that).
That's why it's great to hear about the different versions of the medal, from people like you.

But a medal like that should not be handed out for being in the wrong place at the wrong time (which I belive is Lynchs case).
She had a real traumatic experience, wich I NEVER want to have myself and I can't imagine how she felt at all, but as I have heard/read/learned she didn't do much other than being captured (please correct me if I'm wrong).
And I do belive that the Bronze/Silver star (or similar) should be handed out for what you have done, not what you have experienced.
She did get the purple heart, and I'm not questioning that one at all.
And I don't know if you (USA) have a medal for having been in a combat situation, but she would certainly deserve one like that as well.
 
We have the CIB (Combat Infantryman's Badge), and I believe there is at least one other equivalent for another branch (please help me out here if any of you know more). I do not believe that anyone besides the 11-series and 18-series can receive the CIB (again, if I am off base, please let me know).
 
I think your right about the CIB, Redneck, although I'm not sure either.
I wonder, is the bronze star the lowest appropriate medal they COULD have awarded her and given her a medal at all? I mean, it would be pretty low to give her an AAM for all that.
 
Yes, CIB is only for 11 series and 18 series. The other is the CMB (Combat Medics Badge).

The bronze star fits her circumstance. Many people do different things to get them, some get shot ... some wreck, some fight tooth and nail. You won't see an 11B get a bronze (most times) as quickly as a support MOS during such an event ... simply because the 11B is expected to preform to higher standards.
 
Yeah, I think an 11B would have at least got a few rounds off. :?
Another thing to consider is this: She was a volunteer. Nobody forced her to join. Nobody forced her do any of this. She volunteered, knowing full well what it could lead to, and did her duty. Unlike some "situational conscious objectors" when called to deploy she did, as a volunteer soldier. And paid the price for doing that duty. If that's not merit, I don't know what is.
 
You are doing a great job to convince me here now... :D

And I actually think you have.

A bronze star seems right, but not with a V..
 
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