Jessica Lynch charms room full of WVU journalism students

The Dominion Post ^ | 03-10-2004 | Bob Gay

[the_devils_advocate_666]

One tiny girl, a whole lot of awe

Jessica Lynch charms room full of WVU journalism students

Bob Gay/The Dominion Post Photos

Jessica Lynch, seated beside WVU journalism professor George Esper, laughes at a question about basic training during a surprise visit. Lynch was a guest speaker for the school Tuesday night.

Jessica Lynch (right) is escorted into White Hall by WVU journalism professor George Esper, just before speaking to students. Lynch (far right) smiles at a comment about her mother's T-shirt that said, "My daughter wears combat boots."

BY JAKE STUMP

The Dominion Post

At just 105 pounds and slightly over 5-feet tall, a 20-year-old with her tied-back blonde hair limped down the first few steps of an auditorium-sized WVU classroom Tuesday night.

The journalism students, most of them in their seats a half-hour before the event, must have brushed her off as one of them as they resumed chatting with neighbors.

It all came into focus as she reached halfway down the set of steps. A silver cane helped balance her every move as Professor George Esper assisted her to her seat and microphone. The room grew silent as if someone had sworn in church. Cameras began to flash. And besides the clicking, all you could hear was Jessica Lynch's shoes brush against the carpeted floor.

Lynch, a former prisoner of war and U.S. Army private, made a surprise visit to WVU's White Hall to serve as a guest speaker for the WVU School of Journalism.

The initial silence that swept the room was shattered within minutes as a shy Lynch and a daunted crowd of 100-plus students and faculty warmed up to one another.

Esper, known for covering the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm, broke the silence as he directed comments, jokes and questions to Lynch in an interview/discussion setting.

The Palestine, Wirt County, native spoke of her childhood, smalltown life and the stories -- true and false -- that made her a household name in America's homes.

"My weapon jammed," said Lynch, who was a member of the Fort Bliss, Texas-based 507th Maintenance Co. at the time. "I don't want to take credit for anything I didn't do. I had to tell the truth."

Media reports had Lynch wounded by gunshots and stabbings after her capture last March. It was also reported that she used her weapon to fend off Iraqi soldiers.

"It's so untrue," Lynch said. "I could've went along and told everyone I was a hero and killed all of these people. But it didn't happen."

Nonetheless, many Americans still hold Lynch in a high light.

When she returned home last July, she had 30,000 letters waiting to be read. Her e-mail account was overloaded with messages and shut down.

Of course, Lynch can't read each letter, but she still expresses appreciation for her fans and their support.

Lynch said she answers mail from children who tell her she's a role model and a hero. Some even ask her for solutions to life's little problems.

"I always tell them to never give up," she said.

That's one thing most people can agree on about Lynch: She never gave up.

Lynch was hurt and taken prisoner March 23, 2003, when her unit was ambushed after taking a wrong turn near Nasiriya, Iraq.

Lynch said that she and four other soldiers were riding in a Humvee when a rocket-propelled grenade blasted their vehicle. The impact threw the Humvee into the back of an Army tractor-trailer, and that's when everything went blank, she said.

Eleven soldiers died in the attack -- including all four soldiers riding with Lynch.

She'd been taken to a Nasiriya hospital, where she woke up a few hours after the attack.

Among her injuries, Lynch suffered a head laceration. But she was a good sport about it Tuesday night.

"They shaved my head," she said. "I was very upset about that."

Lynch also suffered three breaks in her left leg, multiple breaks in her right foot and a broken right upper arm.

At one point in the hospital, doctors wanted to amputate one of her legs, Lynch said.

"They put a mask on my face for oxygen," she said. "I knew what they were going to do. They were going to amputate my leg. I just screamed and shook my head. A miracle happened and the doctors stopped."

Despite what they were about to do to Wirt County's biggest celebrity, the doctors saved Lynch's life, she said.

"They gave me a blood transfusion," Lynch said. "Without the blood I needed, I would've died."

Lynch's weight dropped from 105 pounds to 70 pounds during her confinement.

She was served two glasses of orange juice and a few crackers daily. That's not exactly the mashed potatoes and gravy -- her favorite meal -- that she yearned for while laying motionless in a hospital bed.

"It's not a diet I recommend," Lynch said before a roar of crowd laughter. Hospital workers always offered her food, she said, but she was afraid to take it.

"I didn't trust them at the time," she said.

Lynch didn't know what to think. During her hospital stay, she continued to hear explosions and gunfire. On April 1, 2003, the chaos got louder and closer.

"I knew they were getting closer by hearing bombs," Lynch said. "I thought they'd blow up the building. Everyday was a nightmare for me to wake up to."

Acting on a tip, U.S. special operations forces muscled into the hospital to rescue her.

"Soldiers came into the room and said, 'We're American soldiers,'" Lynch said. "I said, 'I'm an American soldier, too.'"

At last, Lynch was safe. The pain, however, would continue.

She didn't realize the media circus that emerged from her ordeal until she reached Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

She didn't know about her fellow soldiers' deaths until learning about them on TV newscasts back in the United States.

One of those soldiers was her best friend, Pfc. Lori Piestewa, 23, who was driving the Humvee at the time of attack.

"She taught me about friendship," Lynch said. "She made me stronger. I was too much of a girly girl. I let people run over me and boss me."

Lynch recently established the Jessica Lynch Foundation to assist children of soldiers. Piestewa had two children.

At the end of the discussion, Lynch told the attentive crowd to never take life for granted, to tell friends and family how much they love them and to never give up.

The latter is something Lynch plans to carry out for the rest of her life, even if it means figuring out why the world changed for her in the sands of Iraq last year.

"There's a reason for everything," she said. "I've got to find out what that reason is for me."

[the_devils_advocate_666]

She sounds like a very humble young lady, best wishes to her.

[CholeraJoe]

Now you've done it. The "Women shouldn't be in combat" posse will be here momentarily.

[the_devils_advocate_666]

I'll bet they don't like her mother's T-shirt that said, "My daughter wears combat boots." I kind of like it.

[Professional Engineer]

I'll bet they don't like her mother's T-shirt that said, "My daughter wears combat boots." I kind of like it.

I do too. In my case, it would be,"My wife wore Combat Boots.", or whatever the Navy equivalent is.

[NEWwoman]

I read the book about her - "I'm an American soldier, too". It was quite well written and she came across quite humble there too. She really misses her best friend Lori who was killed in the ambush and wished the whole thing never happened.

[Smocker]

What kind of nation sends a girl to do a man's job? What kind of nation turns it back on the essence of what womanhood means and perverts its meaning and sends a girl to do a man's job? What kind of nation of men are we rearing who allow the feminists and homosexuals to dictate new meanings of womanhood and manhood? What kind of nation is willing to risk our national security in order to satisfy the disordered thought that a girl can do a man's job? For how long do we have to live with emasculated leaders in our military who refuse to stand up to the feminist agenda and so send girls to do a man's job? How long do we have to live with politicians who are willing to cave on every issue and lack the backbone, need I say the cojones, to face up to the forces of destruction and perversion in this country? How long do we as a nation have to live with politicians who are the forces of destruction in this country? How long do we have to live with politicians who are more concerned with padding their nest eggs than serving this great country? How long will a nation be mighty if it sacrificies military readiness, capablitity and fighting strength in order to allow the misconception that a girl can do a man's job?
Is it worth it? Was Jessica Lynch's torture and sacrifice worth it? OR is it just misplaced zeal? Who will raise the children? What task could possibly be more important for any nation, and for any woman, than that of raising future generations? Have we as a nation come so far as to believe that child rearing should be left to other lesser souls while we women shun the most important task of any nation in order to accomodate the disordered feminists and homosexual thinking that children are a burden? Do we care nothing for those who are to come? Or would have come, if we had cared enough to give them the right to live?

[CholeraJoe]

How long will a nation be mighty if it sacrificies military readiness, capablitity and fighting strength in order to allow the misconception that a girl can do a man's job?

That's an incredibly offensive statement.

A major reason that the volunteer military has been successful has been the acceptance of females into the military mainstream. What would you do to meet the personnel needs? Bring back the draft?

[KantianBurke]

"My weapon jammed," said Lynch, who was a member of the Fort Bliss, Texas-based 507th Maintenance Co. at the time. "I don't want to take credit for anything I didn't do. I had to tell the truth."

Very impressive. She has my respect. However women do NOT belong on the battlefield. This article does not mention the sexual assult she endured to prevent that idea from taking hold IMHO.

[Smocker]

Cholera,

Girls don't belong on the battlefield. If women want to serve this nation in non combat capacities, certain accomodations should be made, not accomodations which harm the nations' military capacity to fight.

The politicians in Washington who ensured that Jessica Lynch and her friends Lori and Shoshanna, ended up on the battlefield, are emasculated men who have let females do their fighting for them. I have no respect for them, I don't care if they are democrats or republicans they are equally culpable for the shame of American women on the battlefield.
I view the feminists as equally culpable, lots of big words to send others to do what they themselves would not do.

[gcruse]

The journalism students...grew silent as if someone had sworn in church

Journalists of the future, already trained..  No applause.  No standing O, silence.

Cameras began to flash. And besides the clicking, all you could hear was Jessica Lynch's shoes brush against the carpeted floor.  Esper...broke the silence as he directed comments, jokes and questions to Lynch

Still dead calm in the audience

 At the end of the discussion, Lynch told the attentive crowd to never take life for granted

Attentive as "in sitting on their hands?"  Feh.

[CholeraJoe]

Jessica and Shosanna were support troops. Jessica was a supply clerk and Soshanna was a cook. They ended up on the battlefield because their commander made a wrong turn, not because some politically correct desk jockey in the Pentagon wanted to send women into combat. Think back to Bataan. Army Nurses were taken POW by the Japanese. Noncombatants

There are women in the USAF and Navy who fly combat aircraft, however. Most of the ones I knew were pretty good pilots, too.

One of the female POW's from GWI was an Army Flight Surgeon. The other was in a transportation company. Noncombatants.

In civilian life, women are astronauts, cops, firefighters, prison guards, loggers, cab drivers and heavy equipment operators - all dangerous occupations. All volunteers. No one forces anyone to do anything dangerous.

[CyberCowboy777]

posse?

Can we not have a different opinion than you? Must we agree with you or be a gang of thugs?

This is a discussion board is it not?

[CholeraJoe]

Main Entry: pos·se

1 : a large group often with a common interest
2 : a body of persons summoned by a sheriff to assist in preserving the public peace usually in an emergency
3 : a group of people temporarily organized to make a search (as for a lost child)

I was using the wrod in the context of definition #1.

[airborne]

I respectfully disagree sir. Every American soldier, man or woman, is taught in Basic Training to fire an M-16. That is just in case somebody 'makes a wrong turn'(which is what happened. That way everyone is able to defend themselves. I respect any woman who is willing to give their life for their country.

[CyberCowboy777]

Strange, within context of your statement your choice does not seem to fit. But then I am not in your head.

I'll take your word that you meant nothing but the nicest things.

[Smocker]

For starters, I'm a mother of 2 girls, from a family where service to this country has always had an honorable tradition. My father, all my brothers, uncles on both sides of the famiy and many relatives have served this country for many generations. In addition, I have one sister that has served in the military and is currently in the National Guard, and is the mother of 3 children.

The group Pvt. Lynch was in, should never have been in the place where a wrong turn would have put females under enemy fire, they were way too far forward for their own safety.


You cannot think that all it takes to be a soldier is to shoot an M16. It takes a lot more than that, and quite simply women don't have what it takes, volunteering or not, willingly or not. This is all aside from whether or not women are willing to give their lives for their country.

What kind of man expects a woman to die before he does, what kind of man is willing to sit back and let a woman die before he decides that he will help defend his country? What does this say about our society as a whole? I'll tell you, it tells you men are emasculated and afraid to be real men.

I would willingly die for this country, I would willingly die for the defense of my children. I am not talking about desire to serve, desire to help the country or desire to rise above our selves. A woman can do all of these things honorably, in ways that do not involve being on the front lines and putting themselves in the position to be POW's.

[PLMerite]

"A major reason that the volunteer military has been successful has been the acceptance of females into the military mainstream. What would you do to meet the personnel needs? Bring back the draft?"

IIRC, the services reserve a percentage of slots for females and have to turn away male volunteers.

[airborne]

First, I apologize for assuming you are a man.Sorry.
I am a disabled vet who served proudly with the 82nd Airborne. My father, grandfather and great grandfather all served in the Army, as did two brothers. One brother is presently in Iraq. I have 18 and 14 year old sons.
I do not share your opinion conscerning women in the military. I do share your opinion that the American male is increasingly becoming immasculated by the feminization of America.
With regards to Pvt. Lynch being too far forward, we are all now in the combat zone. There is no "safe" place. And regardless of your or my feelings, as long as women serve in the Armed Foces they will continue to be in harms way.
BTW, I know it takes more than shooting an M-16 to be a soldier.I spent 3 years in anInfantry platoon as a squad leader. I was trying to keep my post short.

[CholeraJoe]

IIRC, the services reserve a percentage of slots for females and have to turn away male volunteers.

Do you have a source? I searched both google and Defenselink.mil and could find no definitive evidence of fully qualified male applicants being turned away in favor of female applicants.

Were you a recruiter? Please state service, branch, highest grade held and years of service.

Here's mine: USAF; Medical Corps (Flight Surgeon: Rescue, Bombers, Tankers, ICBM); LtCol (O-5); Reserve 1971-1980, Active Duty 1980-1991.

[CholeraJoe]

Finally, a voice of sanity. Thank you for your service, trooper, from a USAF vet.

I served with women in hostile circumstances. On at least two occasions, women pulled my bacon out of the fire. On another assignment, I served with female ICBM crewmembers. Their professionalism was outstanding. What greater trust can a nation place in a person than the custody of 10 ICBMs loaded with 30 citykiller nukes?