Former POW Jessica Lynch Honorably Discharged From Army

AP Breaking News ^

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Aug 27, 2003

Former POW Jessica Lynch Honorably Discharged From Army By Allison Barker Associated Press Writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Former POW Jessica Lynch, the petite blonde who became a war hero when special forces rescued her from an Iraqi hospital, has been honorably discharged from the U.S. Army, her lawyer said Wednesday. "As of the now, she is not a member of the military anymore," Stephen Goodwin of Charleston said.

Lynch, 20, suffered multiple broken bones and other injuries when her 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on March 23.

Her rescue on April 1 made a national celebrity out of Lynch, who joined the Army to get an education and become a kindergarten teacher.

She returned home last month to a hero's welcome after a long stay at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the nation's capital. She revisited the hospital for the first time last week for a checkup.

It was during that trip that Lynch was granted a medical discharge, which she had earlier requested, Goodwin said.

Lynch will continue physical therapy at Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital in Parkersburg, where she has been treated since her release from Walter Reed. She can walk with crutches, but is still recovering from her injuries.

She hopes to improve enough to travel to Colorado in November to celebrate Thanksgiving with her fiance, Army Sgt. Ruben Contreras Jr., and his family.

Goodwin said he was not sure if Lynch is receiving medical disability. Calls to the U.S. Army were not immediately returned Wednesday.

AP-ES-08-27-03 1426EDT

This story can be found at: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA1C6MOVJD.html

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[navydad]

Medically retired or medically discharged? There's a big difference.

[UCANSEE2]

My appreciation and best regards to PFC Jessica Lynch, the outfit she was assigned to , all the men and women still in battle, and all those who have died to make this the greatest country in the world.

We will never know exactly what you went through, and maybe that is best for everyone.

I Thank you for your service, and so does my son, who was in the Navy himself, and his children one day will Thank you and all the fine men and women of the United States Military that fought to keep our country a FREE NATION, and help a different society of people, in another part of the world, have the option to be a FREE PEOPLE as well.

[A.A. Cunningham]

They discharged Scott O'Grady because he f++++d up, and endangered the lives of a rescue team.

Take another hit on your crack pipe, dudette. O'Grady left the Air Force in February of 2001, over five and a half years after he was shot down, to get a master's in theology. Even as inept as the boys in blue can be at times, if O'Grady had screwed the pooch as you claim, which he didn't, it wouldn't have taken them that long to s***can him.

[A.A. Cunningham]

They discharged Scott O'Grady too.

O'Grady left on his own in February of 2001 to get a master's in theology. He was shot down in June of '95. He was discharged after 12 years of service.

[Brandon]

She will probably be or is considered (don't know for sure because only a look at her records will show that) a veteran of a foreign war.

In the early 90s, the Congress declared any veteran who served on or after August 2, 1990 (the date Saddam invaded Kuwait) to be a wartime veteran. There has never been a closing date established for that status.

[warchild9]

He was flying too low in an area where he wasn't supposed to be flying at all when he was shot down. Immediately afterwards, he was taken off flight duty, then sent to a Reserve component (where he served with a friend of mine), and then was eased out, a Jessica Lynch non-hero with his own teevee movie.

[taxcontrol]

Allow me a minor nit pick. The military tends to honor requests for discharge - that is different than just discharging them.

I've seen the military discharge a world class down hill racer 11 months early so he could train for the olympics. I've also seen a state lotto winner 7.5 Million over 20 years not discharged. He had 3 more years till he had his 20 in and wanted to finish till retirement.

Just depends on the situation.


Medicals are a different case all together. Bad injuries have to PROOVE they can stay in, keep up, and wont be a drain on the medical resources of the military. A much higher standard to meet.

[taxcontrol]

incompetence of her unit commander and unit NCOs (got lost, out of contact, weapons nonfunctional).

---

The first Command Sergeant Major that REALLY impressed me was CSM Mosse (I think I have the spelling correct). He was fresh out of SF (14+ years) and got sent to a mech infantry unit (something he was not happy about).

Anyway, one day he got the CO's permission, packed up all the NCOs in the unit and took us to a WWII US cemetary. He then told us that we were to wonder the cemetary, and return with a private's name.

After we all reassembled he gave us a short speach. He told us that the most likely reason that person was in their grave was that some NCO had failed. Failed to train them, failed to inspect them, failed to execute properly. He told us that he wanted us to memorize that name.

Mine was Pvt Larry **** (out of respect)

Damn moving moment and it made me take my job to heart.

[verity]

They also do this with people who become suddenly wealthy, like lottery winners.

There has to be a regulatory or statutory basis for discharging someone prior to completion of their contractually obligated period of service. I am not aware of sudden wealth being a basis for discharge.

[taxcontrol]

"For the benifit of the Army" (or any branch) is a catch all that is used to cover many, and I do mean MANY, situations.

As long as the military thinks that it would be better for the their intersts, they can do it. Some times it is as little as "their motivation to work while they have XXX millions is so low as to not be worth the military's time" or some such.

Often it is a subjective judgement call by their commander.

I knew one guy they discharged just because the job he had enlisted for was closed after he came to basic. They put him out 'cause they didn't want the legal hassles. Kinda dumb if you asked me, they could have worked with the kid and found some other slot or reserve unit. He was a good kid, hated to see one of the good ones go.

[Eva]

There was a woman on Hannity last night who said that she spoke to her husband on Sunday morning and he told her to keep on doing what she was doing. She claimed that the troop weren't doing anything but drinking and playing cards and that they may as well be home because they weren't wanted there and the moral was bad.

[herkbird]

I always heard that every soldier was rich before they entered the service. When I was a DOD contractor, I always heard soldiers talk about all the money they had before they signed up. I don't understand this, I quess I've been misled.

[alloysteel]

One would expect, that in her present physical condition, Pvt. Lynch could not pass a medical examination for fitness to serve in the US Army. Regulations have been in the manuals for a LONG time now, for the separation of persons suffering from limitations resulting from active duty, under honorable conditions. In some armies from ancient times, the badly wounded or disabled were simply dispatched at the point of a spear or sword.

I would like to believe that we are better than that.

[FreeTheHostages]

Probably to steal as much of her royalties from the movie as possible.

LOL, you beat me to it.

[A.A. Cunningham]

You need a reiable source not someone flapping their gums over a warm beer. O'Grady was sent to the 466th at Hill in October of '95 where he flew F-16s until getting orders to Fairchild in July of '98 to serve with the joint survival agency. He flew that mission on 2 June '95 in accordance with the ATO. His flight leader, Bob Wright, was flying at the same altitude and airspeed during their CAP orbit monitoring activity at Udbina. They were forced to move north due to weather. The NATO AWACS controllers were directing them. Talk to the inept planners at Aviano, who changed the mission execution very little from March of '94 to June of '95, if you have a problem with the tactics employed. They are probably the same buffoons who kept sending F-117s over Kosovo using the same ingress and egress routes night after night until one got shot down on 27 March '99. Five and a half years is easing someone out? Get a clue.

[Conservababe]

ABC radio news, every thirty minutes, pointed out that she could not sign any book or movie deals while she was in the military.

Of course, they did not actually say this WAS the reason for her requesting a discharge.

I hate them, I swear.

[cookcounty]

Why are so many people always on her back?

SHE never claimed any heroics.

When called, she went.

She's young, the driver of the lead vehicle made a mistake, she got smashed up.

She deserves respect, her medical needs to be taken care of, and her honorable discharge. What's the problem?

----3rd ID vet ('71-'73)

[Frank_Discussion]

You'll get no argument from me.

[SuziQ]

Kind of odd, since it was tne military's desire to have a female "hero" that made her famous.

I suspect it was more the liberal, feminist media's desire to have a female hero. With her, they wanted to push the idea of the female combat soldier being equal to the male one. To achieve their end, they made a story up out of whole cloth about Pvt. Lynch's heroics and proceeded to poison the water for this young woman forever. There are folks on this forum still repeating the inaccuracies from that original story and using them to smear this young woman.

Whatever her direction in life, I wish her success and contentment.

[HairOfTheDog]

If you noticed, he said 'generally speaking'. If there is an exception to the rule, trust the media to find it and report it as news.

That woman on Hannity last night needed to get her story straight. Either it is a situation out of control, or they are bored and playing cards.

Personally, I hope they have enough playing cards to go around, and the minutes of tension and 'out of control' are brief, but they will have them.