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!!!!!!