# Why is Jessica Lynch a hero? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 23, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292 "2003-07-23T02:06:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/1 "2003-07-23T02:06:54Z")
I spent a lot of years in the military and I just don’t understand this. As I understand the story, Jessica Lynch and her outfit got lost, came under fire in an ambush, lost several team members, and were captured. In addition, she was wounded. So far, I see a purple heart and a POW medal. So why was she awarded the bronze star and why is she being called a hero? The bronze star is generally (but not always) awarded for heroism. I’ve seen citations that speak of superior performance under fire and under duress, but I don’t see that performance here. Did her team tell a story of extraordinary behavior on her part? She admits to remembering nothing of the incident after her capture. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Urt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@Mr\_Urt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Urt)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/2 "2003-07-23T02:12:40Z")
I don’t understand this myself. Her and her unit not only got lost, but managed to get themselves captured, and they’re labled heros. This is absolutely illogical, as to put it plainly, they screwed up, bad. They did nothing to help their situation either, yet she is being called a “hero” and given a bronze star, while the ones who rescued her and her unit have been largely forgotten about already. It’s truly pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/3 "2003-07-23T02:18:18Z")
AMEN! I believe that while she is a fortunate survivor of a bad situation, she is by no means a hero. The purple heart and POW medal are appropriate but a bronze star??? puhleeze! As Americans, are we that hard up for a “hero” that we have to resort to this? ---
**Author:** ![Brad\_Amundsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dbc845/32.png) [@Brad\_Amundsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brad_Amundsen)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/4 "2003-07-23T02:19:32Z")
In my book anyone who goes to war for our country is a hero no questions asked. She sure as hell beats the crap out of a hero like Kobe Bryant! ---
**Author:** ![Phage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a4c791/32.png) [@Phage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phage)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/5 "2003-07-23T02:20:32Z")
Apparently she and her team defended themselves and returned fire quite ferociously; however, she does not remember any of this, and as a result seems rather embarrassed at the media attention. She has asked the media to wind their coverage down and leave her alone, and I cannot help but speculate that some of the furor has been a publicity stunt. I agree that her rescuers deserve more attention, as they ended up digging her dead comrades up with their hands in the extraction. However, using **Mr Urt** ’s logic, they screwed up not bringing a shovel on a hot extraction. ---
**Author:** ![Gumbercules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gumbercules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gumbercules)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/6 "2003-07-23T02:34:20Z")
Another veteran sort of shrugging here. As far as we know she didn’t do anything that commendable. But we don’t know much. There are many stories, such as the one about how the Iraqi prisoners testified that she emptied her weapon at them. If that is true, then according to [The Army](https://www-perscom.army.mil/tagd/tioh/Awards/BRONZE%20STAR1.html) maybe she deserves a Bronze Star. But I think after Vietnam the military has had to fight every war on two fronts, one of them being the war of public opinion. They may have duped a willing media into fooling the willing public. I’m not sure why, though. I bet they could find many cases of true heroism to report if they tried. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Urt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@Mr\_Urt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Urt)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/7 "2003-07-23T02:45:00Z")
I don’t think the rescuers screwed up by not bringing a shovel. I just think that in the age of GPS, somebody definately wasn’t doing their job. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/8 "2003-07-23T02:49:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Brad Amundsen \* > \*\*In my book anyone who goes to war for our country is a hero no questions asked. > > She sure as hell beats the crap out of a hero like Kobe Bryant! \*\* I respectfully disagree with the first part of your statement. I went to war in Viet Nam. **I** signed the contract with the government. **I** swore to “support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic”. It was a job that I signed on for. I am not a hero. I spent my tour on a Marine base fixing things that broke. We took incoming rockets and mortar rounds. Some of my comrades were seriously wounded and medevacked out. None of them received anything other than a purple heart, nor did they deserve anything more. I think it cheapens the notion of heroism to lightly assign the label to people who haven’t earned it. I just know this thread is headed for IMHO, so do your worst, mods. ---
**Author:** ![summerbreeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@summerbreeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/summerbreeze)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/9 "2003-07-23T02:56:37Z")
I asked a couple of my neighbors (women, no servicepeople) the same question **Chefguy** asks in his post today and got totally _trashed_ for not thinking she’s a hero. What pisses me off is the stories in our local paper on a regular basis about WWII servicemen, JUST NOW getting the medals they earned because the paperwork was lost, etc. Takes years of work by their children to get the recognition they truly deserve. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/10 "2003-07-23T03:14:41Z")
I’ll get in my $0.02 before it goes to IMHO (or the pit). No, she wasn’t a hero. If getting captured then “rescued” (I won’t go into the whole “fake rescue” issue) is “hero” material then I should join the army, f\*ck up, get caught by the enemy, and then wait for a HUGE army to come and save me. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/11 "2003-07-23T04:22:55Z")
\>Apparently she and her team defended themselves and returned fire quite ferociously; How do we know this? \>the ones who rescued her and her unit have been largely forgotten about already Not sure they were particularly heroic either, as they encountered no resistance. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/12 "2003-07-23T04:38:18Z")
Why? Because she looks good in pictures. For that matter, so did the guy who crashed his plane in the former Yugoslavia. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/13 "2003-07-23T05:26:08Z")
The Washington Post ran a story a couple of weeks ago about Lynch’s capture, she did not empty her clip, as her weapon jammed the first time she tried to fire: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35551-2003Jul9.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35551-2003Jul9.html) They also ran a detailed story in June of her capture (not available for free on line). I feel sorry for her, everyone is trying to package her as something she’s not. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/14 "2003-07-23T07:02:14Z")
I, too, wonder why Lynch is a hero and ["Shoshana Johnson](http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/03/25/sprj.irq.pow.johnson/) is not. Not photogenic enough for the FOXNews crowd? ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/15 "2003-07-23T07:03:56Z")
Let’s try that link again [http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/03/25/sprj.irq.pow.johnson/](http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/03/25/sprj.irq.pow.johnson/) Or any of the other POW’s listed on that page, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/16 "2003-07-23T07:24:29Z")
Another vote for “Because she’s the prettiest face the war produced, by jingo!” She looked embarrassed and uncomfortable at her homecoming ceremony. She seems to be of the opinion that the hero hat doesn’t quite fit, herself. (Although it’s substantially _less_ of a misfit on her than it would be on, say, me.) ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/17 "2003-07-23T07:28:54Z")
wow. I am sorry for the hijack, but I just read **sublight** ’s link. Shoshana Johnson went to my high school. Given her age, she must have been a year or two below me. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![culov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@culov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/culov)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/18 "2003-07-23T07:33:47Z")
I believe that it was totally blown out of proportion to keep the pro-war mood. Kids were dying every day over in Iraq (Iraqis and Americans both count), but this one happened to make it out. She was one of the few (if not the only???) young, white, woman POW that was rescued. She definately got the most attention. Coincidence? I think not. ---
**Author:** ![Swagman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Swagman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swagman)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/19 "2003-07-23T07:54:25Z")
She’s quite oviously not a hero. The whole episode just reinforces the cynicism that many people feel over the whole Iraq invasion. It’s so full of contradiction it simply leaves me dumbfounded. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2003, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292/20 "2003-07-23T10:05:03Z")
This is tending towards IMHO. I’ll move it for you. - **xash** General Questions Moderator [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jessica-lynch-a-hero/190292.md?page=2)