[mark502inf]

Hard to argue with what these guys say.

[KellyAdmirer]

They are making the guy sound like the commander in "Stripes," which movie has more than a few parallels to this fiasco. ;)

[Chi-townChief]

Sounds like the 1950 "Edge of disaster" campaign on a very small scale.

[bayourod]

I can't disagree with anything they say, but we still need heroes, and I "felt" very proud of Lynch for the courage of all of our troops that she represented. She is a symbol of the many brave soldiers that never get any recognition. There's no harm in letting the myth survive and no good will come of a witch hunt to find someone to blame.

[trebb]

Before long, someone will be blaming the Jessica Lynch "thing" for AIDS, poverty, the economy and anything else they can think of - time to let it go...

[Tallguy]

Dismissing the whole thing by claiming that 'all served nobly' and then throwing medals at them is an insult to the soldiers who died and ought to be an embarrassment to the survivors.

I respect where these veterans are coming from, but "throwing medals" is a time-tested way to coverup for a command failure. I suspect that every officer in the Army knows the score, and if they think Capt. King is culpable, he will be passed over for Major and his career will end.

[Arkinsaw]

But we have to remember the one soldier in the unit that stood firm and took out a fistful of Iraqis before they took him down. The whole thing sounds like a cluster, and thats not the fault of the private soldiers.

[Tallguy]

"...nobody provided an airborne escort, even though "helicopters routinely 'cover' convoys."

Don't mean to pick nits here, but I think that this ambush took place during that infamous sandstorm. Pvt. Lynch's Humvee rear-ended a disabled truck because visibilty was so poor. Isn't it reasonable to assume that rotary wing aircraft were either grounded (or at least ineffective in scouting for this particular convoy)?

Besides this, the rest of the criticism seems to be reasonable based on public information.

[nyconse]

I would bet these "old soldiers" are Democrats. Also, I have family and friends in the Military. They tell me that not all the injuries were from the accident; she was beaten and raped. Furthermore, the Doctors at the hospital did indeed prevent the Iraqis from taking Jessica away to some God forsaken prison which certainly would have killed her or the more likely scenario taken somewhere private and tortured/executed-in that respect they saved her life. They also provided medical attention as best they could. Jessica's fellow soldiers were executed by the Iraqis. The bodies were still at the hospital. I have a real problem with these "old soldiers" and their tale. You don't denigrate another soldier:especially a POW.

There is no doubt that a massive screw-up lead to the capture of this convoy. These soldiers are support. They don't see much combat and have little training: just what they receive at bootcamp really. Perhaps, the NCO made a mistake; by all reports they were lost in a sand storm. Maybe the officers messed up-not unusual in a wartime situation.

[onedoug]

Oh, my! War is really dangerous?

[Lael]

Kuypers termed the jamming "a giveaway for lax discipline and the unit's lack of attention to detail."

How about the Military's "lack of attention to detail" during the early 1960's when they selected that P.O.S. M16??????

Get a good Kalashnikov in 5.56mm...The Israeli Galil uses the Kalashnikov system as a base.

Seriously, when was the last time an Iraqi AK-47 jammed?

How come DOD is buying AK's from Poland for the Iraqi Police??

This M-16 problem is FORTY YEARS OLD!!!

The 507th's mission was Vehicle Maintenance. They should have had Kalashnikovs, just like our "Special Ops" did in Afghanistan.

[bethelgrad]

Man, even Marine cooks obsessively clean their rifles. You'd never hear of a Motor T Marine's M16 jamming. Mis-reading maps is a different story however.

[CWOJackson]

The St. Louis Dispatch interviews three retired officers (one by e-mail) who:

1) were not there

2) aren't privy to ongoing Army investigations

3) and have unknown credentials other then being retired military.

Okay, I believe everything they're saying.

[TomServo]

Ping...

[rstevens]

But Kuyper said the 507th had gotten little in the way of help from the links above it in the chain of command. Among other things, he said, nobody provided an airborne escort, even though "helicopters routinely 'cover' convoys."

I've often wondered about this myself. When I was in the Army, supply/support unit convoys were always protected by Military Police units with air support in a readyness posture.

As far as the dirty weapons and discipline goes, one only needs to read the units TO/E to see that: This unit is capable of fighting as Infantry troops..... I agree with the Colonels of this article: This Captain needs to be looked at very closely and punished if in any way his negligence contributed to this incident.

[roses of sharon]

OMG, mistakes are made during a war?

[PISANO]

It is MORE important in today's PC environs to laud women in combat situations with tales of heroism then to tell the truth and realize the WHOLE culture of women and feminized men in our support units are in dire need of drastic CHANGE back to the past.

[r9etb]

Hard to argue with what these guys say.

Maybe, maybe not.

All I see is three retired guys running to the press to offer their opinion on something of which they have no first-hand knowledge. At least Hackworth gets paid for such shenanigans....

[Fred Mertz]

Does anyone have a link to this article?

[weegee]

Three old soldiers say the hoopla over Pfc. Jessica Lynch has drowned out a darker story - that her company commander foolishly put Lynch and her comrades in harm's way.

Wasn't there some discussion of JFK and his heroism on the PT-109 giving the same questioning?

[sandydipper]

It hurts me deep inside - but - I TOLD YOU SO!