Posted on 11/02/2003 5:49:35 AM PST by Mean Daddy
Pfc. Patrick Miller stood his ground in battle with a malfunctioning weapon, feeding bullets into it by hand to protect two wounded comrades. Even after he was captured, he foiled his captors' attempts to get his radio frequency codes.
For such actions, recounted in a release by the U.S. Army, Miller, a Valley Center native, was awarded the Silver Star -- the third-highest military award for heroism in combat.
Miller, 23, also received a Purple Heart and Prisoner of War medals July 2 during an Independence Day celebration at Fort Bliss, Texas.
"I'm not real worried about awards," Miller said Friday from his home at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. "The way I look at it, I did my job."
Miller spent three weeks as a prisoner of war in Iraq with four other prisoners before Marines rescued them April 13.
In presenting the awards, the U.S. Army for the first time offered a glimpse into Miller's actions after his unit came under attack near An Nasiriyah in Iraq.
The Army release said Miller jumped from his vehicle and began firing on a mortar position that he believed was about to open fire on his convoy.
After he was captured, he was repeatedly questioned about radio frequencies that were written on pieces of paper inside his helmet.
"Thinking on his feet, Pfc. Miller told his captors that they were prices for water pumps," the release said. "Disgusted, the captors threw frequencies and his helmet into the fire."
Miller said Friday that he had read, but could not comment on, a report describing the attack on his unit. The report was leaked this week to the El Paso Times. According to the report, Miller may have killed as many as nine Iraqi fighters before he was captured.
The report also said that human error, stress and fatigue contributed to the attack on the 507th Maintenance Company, the death of 11 U.S. soldiers, and that the 33 soldiers "fought the best they could until there was no longer a means to resist."
It said a navigational error caused the 507th to come under enemy fire and that the ambush lasted 60 to 90 minutes.
Miller was driving with Pfc. Brandon Sloan and Sgt. James Riley when enemy fire struck and killed Sloan and disabled their truck, according to the report.
The report said Miller fired at the Iraqis several times before being surrounded and captured.
For how long? - A day or two? How long does something have to be repeated for you to call it wall-to-wall coverage?
I was watching the news for the big picture, and I have a big picture focus on this.... not a magnifying glass. When the TV is on all day, I hear most stuff repeated throughout the day and catch it one of the times around. No I am not connected to the story or DACOWITS (had to look that up to see what it even is). I am just one who supports the troops and was horrified at the level of trash talking here aimed at women in the military in general, and Jessica Lynch in particular when this started. It would have been interesting to debate it, if it wasn't so sad that it was happening while our forces were still over there. I am telling you what the perceptions of regular people who were not completely obsessed with the story remember about it. Take it or leave it.
Just to clarify.... I said I never heard it in the major media while it was a live story... I heard it HERE and the debate about it HERE... but it was mostly FReeper blustering, imho.
In the book, she is setting the record straight: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1015763/posts?
As for the tv movie, she had no participation or input, so don't blame her for what nbc may do with that.
"while early Pentagon reports suggested the young Army private heroically resisted capture, Lynch told Bragg she never fired a shot, because her M-16 jammed. "I didn't kill nobody," she said."
"Lynch's painful recovery from an ordeal that left her barely able to walk, unable to use her right hand or control her bowels is vividly described. So, too, is Lynch's discomfort with the spotlight - and with being called a hero. "I'm just a survivor," she said in the book. "When I think about it, it keeps me awake at night."
You didn't need a magnifying glass...the story was everywhere, and you know it. I couldn't go five minutes without hearing a reference to Lynch, Warrior Princess. Here's a link to Fox's initial reporting on the matter, as the lie began:
FNC report on Lynch's capture and rescue, the "Lynch Lie"
This story, or versions of it were everywhere, on all channels, and on the front pages of every major newspaper in this nation. It came flying out of every TV screen, every radio, and off every front page like a big ol' CommieLib Custard Lie Pie, and it hit us all in the face. But you know that already, because you saw it.
But the lie didn't stop there. Here's the Guardian dispelling the myth that the rescuers had to shoot their way into the hospital where Lynch was being held and brutalized. Yeah, it's The Guardian, which is left of Stalin, but as yet, no one in the Pentagon or anywhere else that I'm aware of has, stepped forward to deny what's in this report:
Guardian on the rescue that wasn't
Here's Miller's story, which didn't come out until weeks later, after the American Sheeple had lost interest in what happened that night:
Maybe you missed all this, but the story of Lynch, Warrior Princess came up again in July, and was shown to be a lie as the Army's official report on that night came out...first from World Net Daily...
Finally, Mona Cheren says it so much better than I ever could...
Just in case I got the HTML wrong, here are the URLs to all the stories I reference
1) Fox story - www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,82923,00.html
2) Guardian story - www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,956255,00.html
3) Miller's story - www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...a-home-leftrail
4) WND story - www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=32410
5) Mona Cheren commentary - www.townhall.com/columnists/monacheren/mc20030701.shtml
The truth is not only out there, it's in your face! Last April and May you couldn't take a walk down the street without stumbling over yet another version of the Lynch Lie. Then in June, as details began to seep out from the as-yet-unreleased Army official report, the media began to mumble a bit more, not gloating as they had been previously. Then, after the report was issued, all mention of Lynch's Last Stand conveniently stopped, and the focus shifted to the feel-good story of her homecoming, and the movie and book deals.
If you insist on saying you were unaware of the Lynch Lie, that she was made into Lynch, Warrior Princess, then you are either not telling the truth, or you are in serious, heap-big denial. If you insist that there's some Vast, Right-Wing, Chauvanist Conspiracy out there trying to "bash", "trash", "destruct", or do whatever to Lynch because we "cavemen" don't want women in the service, you're in serious, mega, heap-big denial. Take off the emotional blinders covering your eyes on the issue of women in the military and see the facts: no one that I've read on FReep is besmirching Lynch for doing her duty, no one is unhappy that she's home, and no one that I've heard from says women shouldn't be in the military. OTOH, a lot of us have a huge problem with the Lie...we were lied to by someone in the Pentagon (DACOWITS, I'm looking in your direction), and then force fed the lie until it became the truth.
"I am just one who supports the troops and was horrified at the level of trash talking here aimed at women in the military in general, and Jessica Lynch in particular when this started."
There you go again, implying I don't "support the troops" because I'm critical of the Lie. Of course I "support the troops"...I used to be one! I have dear friends over there as we speak. But to blindly accept whatever pablum, whatever load of unadulterated BS the Pentagon feeds us just because it comes from the military is not supporting the troops, it's being a stool pigeon. In the case of the Lynch Lie, it's potentially harmful to future generations of troops, as it could help the PC feminazis finally get what they want...women in combat roles. Take the red pill, wake up, reject the Matrix. Just because a Pubbie's in the White Hse doesn't mean all government employees are suddenly upstanding, truthful Boy Scouts, despite what many Kool-Aid drinkers here think. I'm quite sure there are some on FReep that don't want women to serve in the military in any capacity...I've not seen any of them, but I'm sure they're there. But don't equate those of us who are trying to wake people up to The Lie to the "keep 'em barefoot and pregnant" crowd. As for not knowing who DACOWITS are/is...they're one of the biggest threats to the military and readiness that exists today, and one of the reasons Klinton's Army was the joke it was.
I could go on, but I believe I've made my point over and over again. The way you can tell you've won in a debate against a liberal is when, faced with absolute, immutable evidence and facts, the person folds their arms, drops their head, and starts repeating "No! You're wrong! You're just wrong! I'm not listening to you because you're wrong!" Please don't go there, because I don't think you're a liberal...but your steadfast denial of the truth of this matter is pretty dang close to it.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
No - I said it is a matter of perspective. I said I didn't see the left behaving near as badly as the anti-Jessica contingent HERE ON FR. Period. That is what I think.... The media paraded her, I didn't deny that, I denied HOW BIG of a story the LIE portion, the overstatement of her actions, really was. Their media frenzy and glorification of her was hardly as much of a sin as FReepers calling her a little girl, a liar, an attention whore and worse. That is my opinion.
You either don't understand, or are just loathe to admit, that The Lie is what made Lynch what she is today. If the Pentagon hadn't lied about her non-existant heroic Last Stand, Lynch would be no more of a household name than the helicopter pilot who was shot down, captured and raped in Desert Storm. The Lie is the reason we know who Jessica Lynch is. If not for The Lie, she'd be as well known as Johnson, Piestewa, Miller, Riley, etc. No more and no less. She wouldn't have been made into a household name, with a website dedicated to her, and a song entitled "She's an American Hero" written about her. She wouldn't have gotten a book deal, or a movie of the week deal. Katie Commie wouldn't have given her a small library of feminazi books. Susan Estrich wouldn't have gloated with shining eyes on Fox News about how Lynch proves women can fight alongside men. None of it would have happened without The Lie! Not only was it a huge story, it was the only story for days after her "rescue". It was a fabrication planned in the Pentagon and executed in the mainstream CommieLib media, the American Sheeple heard it repeated enough that it became the truth, and a grave injustice was done to the real heroes of that night, Miller chiefly among them. whether you choose to accept that or not, that's the reality of what happened.
"Their media frenzy and glorification of her was hardly as much of a sin as FReepers calling her a little girl, a liar, an attention whore and worse."
I'll grant you that some FReepers may have called her a "media whore" and other such names, but that pales in comparison to the media and the Pentagon re-writing the history of that night, in order to advance a political agenda that in a worst-case scenario could be harmful to our future national defense. "Liar"? Well, if she hadn't set the record straight in her book (which, from the advance peek we're getting at it, she apparently has), she would've been a liar. "Litle girl"? Oh, give me a break. I'm 6-3, 265 lbs, 38 years old, and still my 75 year old neighbor calls me a "little boy". God forbid someone older that her should call her a...(gasp!)...girl! You're exaggerating agin.
"That is my opinion."
Yes it is, and I would fight and die if necessary to protect your right to speak it. What I've presented to you are the facts. Whether you choose to accept them or not is your business.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Not at all, being a soldier in the service of her country made PFC Lynch what she is today.
Not at all, being a soldier in the service of her country made PFC Lynch what she is today.
Sorry Chief, your statement doesn't wash. You know as well as anyone else that Lynch, as we know her today, was created by The Lie. You may choose to ignore the truth, but I don't.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
If you and a hand full of other wish to vent your personal frustrations and try to make something out of this brave young soldiers service then it's not then you are no better then the press.
And save your scouts out and calvary ho BS for your playmates...it doesn't much impress me.
Not a national hero? Wake up, Chief. Where have you been since 3 April? Go to www.jessica-lynch.com and see the hero worship in her name. Some guy I never heard of even wrote a song called "She's an American Hero", and there's a link to it on that website. Newspaper articles refer to her as "America's best-known GI". She's not a national hero, Chief? Your lack of a grip on reality doesn't impress me much.
SCOUTS OUT! CAVALRY HO!
PS...that's combat arms lingo, by the way...I realize you warrant officers are kinda limited on your knowledge of combat arms.
If you don't like what you see over at www.jessica-lynch.com them perhaps you should stay away from it. As for your knowledge of combat lingo...sure...you got the lingo down pat. For an old black and white movie or a cartoon.
Hehehehehehe...oh, you REMFs just kill me. What were/are you? MI? Foodservice? Maintenance? Some other REMF speciality? It's easy to understand why rear eschelon types get upset with the braggidociuosness and swagger of combat arms guys...y'all have no traditions to follow. Cav, Armor, Infantry, Artillery, Combat Engineers, all have proud traditions, forged in combat over the years. PAC, supply, MI, all battle paper cuts and heartburn from hours old coffee on a daily basis. Yes Chief, Cav Scouts to this day know their final destination is Fiddler's Green, and still knock out extra pushups for Old Bill. We didn't all watch some old John Wayne movie to pick up "Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!" Those phrases are a way of life for Cav professionals. You wouldn't understand that, but you have no aversion to opening your trap and demonstrating your ignorance. Sad...
So, a hero to you is anyone who wears the uniform? Well, let's examine that a bit further. In my 11 years in the service, I saw guys who drove drunk, beat their wives, attempted suicide, ran drug rings out of family housing, were gang members in town, failed drug tests, didn't fail drug tests but dropped enough acid to sink a battleship, went weeks without taking showers (in garrison) or doing their laundry, and so on. Are these people heroes, just because they wore the uniform? No, they're just plain scumbags, regardless of the fact they raised their right hand. They may be a little higher on the food chain than their civilian counterparts who do the sme things, but they're still scumbags. Surely you, as a fine, upstanding Warrant Officer, know that there are bad people in the service, too? Or have you drunk so much Kool-Aid that you're suffering from Pubbie Punch-Drunkedness?
Also, you think that everyone who wears the uniform does so out of patriotism? I don't know where you serve(d), or for how long, but from my experience, most of my soldiers joined up for the college money, or because there weren't any jobs back home (both of these are reasons Jessica Lynch joined, as I recall). Many of my fellow NCOs stayed in because they had families and didn't want to lose the stability, or just had been in so long they didn't know how to do anything else (the joke at one of my units was that "NCO" stood for "No Chance Outside"). Some of us served for patriotic reasons, but if I had to put a percentage on the number of enlisted soldiers I knew who listed patriotism as their main reason for joining, I'd have to say it was less than 20%. It was probably a little higher for NCOs, and quite a bit higher for officers. I couldn't say how warrant officers would stack up in this regard, because I only ran into them at the mess hall, or at the brigade PAC.
"As for you definitions of what constitutes a hero that impresses me even less."
Hmmmmm..I don't remember ever giving my definition of what a hero is. Maybe you'd be good enough to point it out to me where I did? Maybe in your deluded mind you saw me post a definition, but I sure don't recall doing it.
What I do recall saying is that heroes can be found anywhere the uniform is worn. There are heroes in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Germany, Ft. Hood, Ft. Stewart, Aberdeen Proving Grounds, and even at the Pentagon...where are their book deals and movies of the week? At the same time, there are average soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines in all those places, doing just enough to get by and not be accused of shamming or shirking. But there are also downright dirtbag, scumbag, sham artists in those places, too. So, is Jessica Lynch a hero? Regardless of what you or I think, in the eyes of the American Sheeple, she is. Deny it if you want, but you're only making yourself look delusional.
"If you don't like what you see over at www.jessica-lynch.com them perhaps you should stay away from it."
Oh, don't you worry your head off about that, Chief. I saw it for the first and last time yesterday, as I was scanning CNN's website for Lynch info. While I don't begrudge anyone from having a website dedicated to them, or starting one for whatever reason, it just struck me as odd that there is an Engineer E-7 being considered for a posthumous MOH, and he apparently doesn't have his own website. Patrick Miller, to my knowledge, doesn't have a website dedicated to him. The other folks who've been awarded Silver and Bronze Stars for Valor, or Navy Crosses, Air Force Crosses, Legions of Merit, other higher awards, don't have websites dedicated to them. They aren't household names, yet they did far more than Jessica Lynch. Why? Because there wasn't The Lie attached to their exploits. I say again...Jessica Lynch is the national hero, and cultural icon she is today because of The Lie. She may very well be a perfectly fine, upstanding American, bright and full of potential for the future. But a lot of upstanding, bright Americans are doing far more than Lynch did, and they're unknown and unrecognized. If you can't accept that, you are truly hopeless.
SCOUTS OUT!!!!!! CAVALRY HO!!!!!!
As for cadence, you're not good or tough enough to call Cav cadence. But here's an idea, a good REMF cadence...
"Rangers wear their hair high and tight
While I'm home drinking a Diet Sprite
There's just one branch for me
That's A-G, A-G, A-G
Cavalry's always on the go
While I'm home watching the Letterman show
There's just one branch for me
That's A-G, A-G, A-G"
Or how about...
"And when I get to Heaven
St. Peter's gonna say
How'd ya earn your livin', boy?
How'd you earn your pay?
I'll reply with a whole lotta anger
Bacon, beans, meat and potatoes
That's the life of a Chow Hall Ranger."
Those are more your speed. Cav cadence, for you, would be to...strenuous.
SCOUTS OUT!!!!!! CAVALRY HO!!!!!!
The truth is a mountain, and climbing it is always worth it. Especially if the truth is the best defense against the onslaught of political correctness. The Lie, if unchecked, could eventually help the military knuckle under to the feminazi women in combat agenda, and if so, everyone who stood idly by and allowed it to happen will be partially to blame. National scurity will be eroded because the military's combat forces will have been literally and figuratively weakened, and everyone who swallowed whole the Lynch Lie will have themselves to thank. Maybe it's just a matter of what's important to whom, but when I look beyond the puffy feel-good media smokescreen that covers their retreat from The Lie, I see that serious damage could eventually be inflicted on our fighting forces because of it.
"You could tell me what you really think I think but won't admit."
Huh? I'm confused. Are you saying I could tell you what I think that you really think, but you won't admit? Or that I won't admit that I think your thoughts are different than what you've said they are? Wow...let me assure I neither think you're lying about anything, nor am I lying about anything. We've both been truthful, as far as I can tell, just we see this from different perspectives. You're a woman, and a civilian, who is very touchy about the issue of women in the military. I'm a combat arms veteran, who knows how disasterous it would be to put women in combat roles, and can see beyond the touchy-feely aspects of the Lynch story, to the feminazi agenda behind it. It's kinda like the Wizard of Oz, except in this case it's "pay no attention to the feminazi behind the Lynch curtain". It's not a matter of "supporting (all) the troops", it's a matter of telling the truth about who did what and what really happened, and of staving off yet another feminazi sapper attack on the military. I think that's well worth the effort to get folks to look beyond the end of their noses.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
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