The U.S. Army awarded her the Bronze Star for distinguishing herself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service conisting of this:
1. Caught in ambush.
2. Some of her injuries were a result of the Humvee crash she was riding in.
3. Her weapon jammed because she failed to clean it.
4. With jammed weapon and still in the back of the vehicle, according to her, "...I lowered my head down to my knees, and I closed my eyes..." (while 11 in her group were killed during the firefight).
That's heroic or meritorious achievement or service?
To me this smacks of what is going wrong in our country. Dumbing down everything: Heroes, education, etc.. When the Lynch issue came out, I felt this was nothing but trying to make Lynch a Joan (John) Wayne-type. Sure enough! The truth came out. A Marine combat veteran in Iraq put it this way:
If Lynch deserves a Bronze Star (which she doesn't), then they (those engaged in daily combat) deserve a Medal of Honor. Lynch got a Bronze Star as a publicity stunt for the Army. She got it because she is a woman. It's just that simple. If she had been a man, no one would've cared. It is sad to see that in today's world of equality, in the 21st Century, such a thing would happen. Lynch is nothing but a publicity doll for the Army and an embarrassment to the United States military and the true heroes of our nation.
Other input:
She will now become the icon, the symbol of everything the radical feminists desire in completely 'feminizing' the U.S. military. They have their woman-in-combat heroine who will pave the way for some woman, sometime, to become the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - or maybe even the Commander in Chief. All for personal gain. All for the exercise of matriarchal political power in America. And all contributing to the reality of the deterioration of combat effectiveness, the loss of the 'warrior ethos' in our armed forces and, most importantly, a degradation of America's ability to defend itself when faced with an opponent other than a Third-World country.
Further reading: The Mythical Modern American War Hero.
Fair enough Jessica. You claim you are no hero and used as a symbol.
Then be a hero and return your Bronze Star!!.