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.
Can you back this up with facts?
I see you're unfamiliar with feminist theorists, who have said this about every other sector of society for the past thirty years, from biblical prophets to rape prosecutions.
"Injured"? When did wounds get translated into "injuries"?
You Lynch-bashers are so attractive.
"Lynch-basher"?! So, now I'm a Lynch-basher? I can no more be a Lynch-basher than I can be a Pres. Al Gore-basher. Jessica Lynch was no more a hero, than Al Gore was president. When a fireman carries a woman out of a burning building, do you call the fireman the hero or the woman? And if some idiot or group of idiots decide to turn the woman into a hero for doing nothing, someone who tries to set the record straight isn't a "basher." Real heroes died, and others were wounded, and yet you ignore them, and instead salute the damsel in distress. Note that the real heroes are showing modesty, while the damsel is out selling herself.
Some people just can't handle the truth.
I hope you're right, because it's Pfc. Patrick Miller and men like him, who won the war.
Great analogy. Patrick Miller is a true hero. A guy you might pass on the street and not notice. Not only did he take out many of the enemy, he refused to bow to them during capture. What spunk. The spirit of America. He is a role model for all.
Then why didn't they? It seems to me they did no better than Lynch. That tells me that Lynch wasn't injured because she was out of her element, but because she was in a Humvee crash since the men were incapacited also. The only female you can claim that may have been a drag to the resistance might have been Shoshana since she was the only female still able to fight. Whether she did well or not I don't know because I'm not worried about every little detail to nitpick on our soldiers. I'll let the Army worry about that.
They were dead and thus incapable of action. The men that were not out of it, fought. Miss Lynch did not fight. Her weapon "jammed".
Miller thought Lynch was dead. There've been several reports that she was unconscious. You can't blame Lynch for this if she did no worse than the men that were with her in the Humvee.
She was there, by her own statement, for employment opportunities.
Most men join for the money also.
I have issues with Bubba, and Miss Lynch has certainly been made a poster child for his policies.
She shouldn't be. She, like the men with her in the Humvee, was incapacitated by the wreck. If you want to see how women do in combat, check Shoshana. Checking Lynch proves nothing.
She had no business there in the first place.
Take it up with someone else, I don't care about that issue enough to argue about it. I'll leave that for the Army and for those that have been there to haggle over. We've had several women on this site that have served and support females doing Lynch's job, look for one of them to argue with about that.
She must weigh 125 soaking wet, with fragile physique and no upper body strength capable of throwing a grenade farther than its own killing radius.
Yeah, whatever. Tell someone else.
We put real war assets in danger to get her out, when rescue attempts historically is to get captured fighters out to return to the front.
She wasn't captured because she was a woman, she was captured because she was in a Humvee crash. If you want to look at fighting performance, look at Shoshana. Her case is the only one that would show evidence one way or the other.
With the rest of what happened, it is obvious that this was a political mission, which are rare, but do exist in time of war.
Nah. She was rescued because she was a POW.
They are frustrated with lies and fraud to turn a stabile society on its head, ignoring the unalterable characteristics of Nature, with the resulting chaos and instability for all.
They need to look at a case that's relevent. Lynch's case isn't relevant since she did no worse than the men in the Humvee.
I applaude them for pointing out the cracks (nitpicking) in the media structure built around Miss Lynch and the negative implications of that deceitful structure are legion. Were you not in a victim of liberal conditioning, you would be, too.
Don't call me a liberal or brainwashed. I know BS when I see it. And holding up Lynch as an example of women in combat is BS since she did no worse than the men in her Humvee.
You're telling me that you actually are unaware of the artificial hype around Miss Lynch?
I remember the same hype surrounding Zaun and the others in Gulf War 1. I remember the same hype with the hostages in Iran. I remember the same hype with Terry Anderson. You're imagining things.
I'm afraid I can't buy the "just wanting to honor those that had a hard time". I read what you have to say on other Lynch threads and don't get that impression. I don't think you can deny that Miss Lynch is getting away and gone more attention than others have gotten who really did something.
Sure because she was a lone rescuee. Them's the breaks. Some poeple are better known due to circumstance. And if you look at Free Republic, the people giving Lynch all the media attention are the very same people that are complaining of attention. A high percentage of Lynch threads are posted by Lynch bashers, just like this one was. And then they complain of attention! LOL Physician, heal thyself. If not for the bashing, there would be hardly any Lynch threads here.
Why do you think that is? And what purpose do you think that such hype is designed to serve?
I know what you purpose is. You give her attention for your pet peeve about women in military. Others hold her up for every little complaint they have from some weird cuteness envy, to bookwriting, or whatever.
So in other words, no you can't back up with facts that the military has halted giving medals to men until women get the same number.
So in other words, no you can't back up with facts that the military has halted giving medals to men until women get the same number.
So, in other words, you're either illiterate or dishonest, because I never said the words that you attributed to me.
For FReepers interested in the truth, see #45.
I never said she was a media victim. We've always celebrated lives being saved.
Jessica Lynch isn't anyone's victim, and she totally used the media! She's just an opportunist. I don't thank her for spit. All she did was cause real heroes -- men whose names we never hear, and who get no movie or book deals -- to risk their lives on her behalf.
And I'll say again that you bashers are so attractive.
"Lynch-basher"?! So, now I'm a Lynch-basher?
Yep and yep.
I can no more be a Lynch-basher than I can be a Pres. Al Gore-basher.
I'm an Al Gore basher.
Jessica Lynch was no more a hero, than Al Gore was president.
Your subjective opinion.
When a fireman carries a woman out of a burning building, do you call the fireman the hero or the woman?
You guys are obsessed about the "hero" label. This is a thread about Miller, and you guys go into immediate Lynch bashing nearly drowning out any discussion about Miller. And then you complain that Miller isn't getting enough attention! lol
And if some idiot or group of idiots decide to turn the woman into a hero for doing nothing, someone who tries to set the record straight isn't a "basher."
She served in danger for others. There's a degree of heroism there. Because she was there maybe it saved 100,000 New Yorkers from being nuked. In today's Army every job is important.
Real heroes died, and others were wounded, and yet you ignore them, and instead salute the damsel in distress.
I don't post on military threads except for the threads where our soldiers are nitpicked. Lynch is nitpicked more than anyone.
Note that the real heroes are showing modesty, while the damsel is out selling herself.
So did Audie Murphy sell himself when he wrote a book?
Some people just can't handle the truth.
Some people can't be consistent.
Miller's been on television.
I see you still can't back up that the military has halted giving medals to men until women get the same number.
So, in other words, you're either illiterate or dishonest, because I never said the words that you attributed to me.
So our Army is not "affirmitive action"?
The feminists are not all at DU. There are some at FR, and in the GOP. Their rallying cry, apparently, is "Equal pay for women!" (regardless of seniority, job description, or number of weekly work hours), "Women must be given all the same jobs as men!" (regardless of their physical ability to do them), "Men must pay for all dates!" oh, and, lest I forget, "Cut taxes!"
I see you are still either a liar or an illiterate.
You know what you call an honest feminist? A former feminist.
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