Using Private Lynch

[thedrifter]

08-26-2003 <br />
<br />
Hack's Target <br />
<br />
Using Private Lynch <br />
<br />
<br />
By David H. Hackworth

[thedrifter]

08-26-2003

Guest Column: Army Doctrine Doomed the 507th



By David L. Arnold



As a former officer in the U.S. Army’s Ordnance Corps, I followed reports of the ambush of the 507th Maintenance Co. in Iraq with more than casual interest and a real sorrow. Up until now I’ve refrained from comment on the ambush, figuring that my experience is a bit dated.



But after reading the Army investigative report and some recent comments about the 507th’s experience, including the adequacy of preparation and training, and some comments that I perceive as perhaps unfair slams on them, I want to throw in my two cents worth.



I submit that what happened to the 507th Maintenance Co. at An Nasiriyah was not simply the result what any individual soldier did or did not do on the field that day. Rather, I believe the tragedy was the end result of a reality of Army doctrine and culture that had been apparent to those of us in Combat Service Support many years prior to the ambush of the 507th on March 23, 2003.



SFTT reader Mike Rooney, in his posted response to Col. David Hackworth’s column on the ambush incident (“That Bloody Road to Baghdad,” DefenseWatch, Apr. 22, 2003), includes two very telling paragraphs:



“Another noticeable point – was the large number of WEAPON FAILURES. QUESTION: Did this small company unit, its individual soldiers, plus assigned leaders – fail to ensure and perform “preventive maintenance” daily on their weapons? From pages 6 and 7 [of the “U.S. Army Official Report on 507th Maintenance Co.: An Nasiriyah, Iraq”] one gets the impression – that this unit DID DEVOTE a SUPER HUMAN EFFORT to its recovery tasks. But, did these recovery tasks consume so much time – that weapons “preventive maintenance” was ignored, or even simply not performed?



“On page 2 [of the Army report] it states – “There were 33 U.S. soldiers in the 18-vehicle convoy.” Math-wise – 18 vehicles divided into 33 people – equals about 1.8 soldiers per vehicle. Since most of these were large truck vehicles requiring full driver attention – that would reasonably appear to leave only about ONE effective “full-time” fighting gun per MOVING vehicle. In addition, on page 3 it states – “However, all pyrotechnics, hand grenades, and AT-4 anti-tank weapons were consolidated and secured. This leads to the QUESTION: Were these soldiers EVEN ALLOWED to have these additional items at hand and ready for their OWN DEFENSE?



Rooney is on the right track: Over the years, starting in the 1970s, Army combat doctrine has increasingly shifted the responsibility for rear-area protection from line combat units to the rear area units. Line combat units, previously available in rear-area security and “reserve,” disappeared at the same time Army commanders began to recognize the emergence of “fully-enveloping threat environments” on the modern battlefield. At the same time, the strength and capabilities of Combat Service Support units began to decline in the face of an increasing mission and a "tooth to tail" imbalance.



The result is the personnel math problem that Rooney cites in his response to the report. When deployed in their proper mission in support of a fast-moving force, even highly-trained service support units will find themselves undermanned, too widely dispersed, and completely outgunned in event of an enemy assault or an unplanned meeting engagement.



An immediate reaction response to the ambush – laying down a base of fire and charging the ambush – are realistic scenarios for troops operating from APCs or assigned to a well-prepared Ranger force. As the ill-fated soldiers of the 507th found out that day against the Iraqi gunmen, it can be a damn sight harder for a support trooper perched in the shotgun seat of a 5-ton wrecker that is sandwiched between two fuel tankers in a convoy traveling without flank security assets.



This illustrates the wider issue confronting Army support troops everywhere: Providing effective 24-7 security for a widely-dispersed logistics operation with a TOE that is barely adequate for garrison support duties at home – and totally inadequate to run support 24-7 on a moving battlefield while simultaneously maintaining effective combat security, defense, listening posts, patrols and all the other tasks of area and route security – is impossible in today’s Army.



Rooney also raises questions about the 507th’s PM and, by implication, their training and readiness. To explain my take on this, I need to indulge in a small anecdote. In the mid-1970s, V Corps and the 8th Infantry Division performed the first division-level exercise of an assault crossing the Rhine River in many years. It was a big deal training event. I was Division Materiel Officer at the time. After the bridges were in place at one particular crossing I was involved with, the lead elements went across. The first element to cross the bridge were some combat engineers (proving that they trusted the floating bridge) from the 12th Engineers. The second element across was one of my ordnance contact teams and a recovery point group.



I admit that I have never been in a real combat assault river crossing, but I seriously doubt that doctrine calls for the assault to be led by an Ordnance shop officer in a jeep with a wrecker and a contact team truck.



The reality was that my unit (the old 708th) wasn’t there to train. Sure, we were tactical. We got to fold the windshields down on the jeeps and work from generators instead of base power. But we were there to make sure that the exercise went well for the combat units – our regular job – not to do tactical training.



The second flaw exposed by Mike Rooney’s commentary and underscored in the river-crossing anecdote are at the heart of what happened to the 507th five months ago. In my experience – and I doubt this has changed significantly, combat service support units are simply not allowed to train in peacetime for combat survivability in wartime.



The command structure and culture of the combat units they support will not allow it. No combat formation commander – whether at the company, battalion, brigade and certainly not division level – wants to hear that their combat readiness report is suffering because some rag-tailed Ordnance unit and its commander decided to close the shops and do convoy and ambush reaction training.



No armor brigade commander is interested in being told that his fire control is down and tanks redlined because the fire control mechanics are taking weapons training and running perimeter patrol drills out in the FTX area.



In my years as a either a field logistician or trainer, I met damn few combat commanders who were ever willing to take a hit on their own readiness reports and stand up to their highers so that the CSS guys and gals supporting them could be out taking care of combat training and readiness for their own units.



In my last year or so with the 8th ID, the Division Support Commander was the late Col. Winfield Holt, an Infantry officer’s Infantry officer. He understood our problem, but even he, with the leverage of being a combat line officer, could never buy us the training time.



continued......

[thedrifter]

So on that day in Germany on the Rhine, we I charged across the river on the pointy end of the division, and immediately set to work coordinating collection points and maintenance and supply ops all...

[thedrifter]

08-26-2003 <br />
<br />
A Silver Star by the Original Rules <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
By J. David Galland

[thedrifter]

08-26-2003 <br />
<br />
Air Force Resists ‘Medal Inflation’ <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
By Paul Connors

[thedrifter]

08-26-2003

Guest Column: Hints of Torture and Rape



By Thomas Way



The story of Pfc. Jessica Lynch and her fellow soldiers in the 507th Maintenance Co. has gone through many different revisions over the past four months. The one thing we can say with confidence is that the truth is still being suppressed.



The first accounts of Lynch’s capture sounded like a reincarnation of the fall of the Alamo. Later, the story changed to resemble an episode of the television drama, “ER,” with U.S. and British news media reports – later “confirmed” by the Army’s own investigative report – claiming that Lynch was merely injured in a motor vehicle accident, then treated by caring Iraqi doctors until U.S. special operations troops swooped in to retrieve the critically injured young soldier.



Both of those accounts are myths. The initial press reports appear to have been based on garbled and misinterpreted intercepts of Iraqi communications, and the latter account due to outright lies.



What is the real story behind what happened to Pfc. Lynch during her nine days of captivity?



The evidence continues to build that neither account is entirely accurate. Already, unofficial reports have emerged that Lynch was pulled out of her wrecked Humvee and severely beaten by Iraqi soldiers. As the official Army investigation found, Lynch was riding in the rear seat of the Humvee along with two other soldiers, was far from the point of impact. She was also wearing a Kevlar helmet and body armor in addition to being cushioned by duffle bags and other similar gear in the vehicle.



Recently published photos taken of the ambush mere hours afterwards show the front right side of the Humvee smashed against the rear tires of the U.S. Army semi-trailer, but little other damage. Significantly missing from the photos that appeared in The National Enquirer are signs of the alleged Iraqi RPG impact on the left-hand side of the Humvee – which news reports said caused the driver, Pfc. Lori Piestewa, to crash into the other vehicle.



This new information makes the Army’s official account of Lynch’s treatment by her captors highly suspect. Add to this, the multiple reports by Iraqi citizens at the time stating that Lynch was being mistreated, including a direct statement to NBC reporter Kerry Sanders from an Iraqi national that a female U.S. POW was being “tortured.”



It is an open secret among U.S. military personnel that American POWs in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and Operation Iraqi Freedom 12 years later – both male and female – were sexually assaulted by their Iraqi captors. Did this happen to Lynch?



Consider how the U.S. Army Lynch during her stays in Landsruhl and Walter Reed Army Medical Centers. While the other patients, including the other rescued POWs from the 507th, were treated normally and basically kept among the general hospital population, Lynch was kept in isolation from the other patients, even during her physical therapy. Even the language used by military spokesmen concerning her medical condition more closely resembled that used for the victim of a sexual assault than of a soldier who had suffered wounds in combat or a vehicle accident like the Army has claimed.



Sergeant 1st Class Greg Walker, an experienced SOF operator and published author who was involved in the Lynch’s rescue, recently stated very clearly that Lynch’s fellow soldiers, whose bodies were recovered at the hospital during her rescue, had been physically mistreated, then executed.



In view of what happened to the other POWs, there is little doubt that Lynch, too, was also mistreated as well, quite probably throughout the entire period of her captivity. Historically, Iraqi medical personnel have acted on the orders of Ba’ath Party officials to assist in the torture of prisoners. Therefore, the Nasiriyah hospital staff would have a powerful vested interest in concealing the actual abuse of American POWs, including Lynch.



Following Lynch’s rescue, Col. David O'Neal, an Army communications specialist in Iraq, emailed his wife concerning what he had learned of Lynch’s experience as well. The Charleston Post and Courier quoted O’Neal in an online article, “Be prepared to get very upset when the Jessica Lynch story is unveiled ... if it really ever is,” he told her. “That should be her decision. Those Iraqis have no respect for human life, especially women.”



The full story of what really happened to Pfc. Jessica Lynch could be best answered by Lynch herself. But will the U.S. Army allow her to freely speak of her experiences, or will she be bound by the same gag order that has silenced former Spec. Melissa Coleman, a POW for 33 days in Operation Desert Storm, for over twelve years?



When recently asked on national TV what happened to her during her captivity, Coleman stated very clearly “I am not allowed to say.” Supposedly, Lynch has the freedom to speak openly of her captivity and medical treatment as long as it does not impact current operations.



So why is this not the case for Melissa Coleman? Will Lynch end up simply following orders and repeating the Army’s all-too-inaccurate report instead of telling the full story behind her captivity?



It appears that the U.S. Army and the thugs from the deposed Iraqi Ba’ath Party have a common desire to suppress the truth about the atrocities suffered by Lynch and her fellow POWs.

Thomas Way is the pen name of a career military intelligence analyst with almost 20 years of experience in both the U.S. Army and Air Force. He can be reached by forwarded emails sent to dweditor@yahoo.com.
Guest Column: Hints of Torture and Rape">

http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Defensewatch%20Special.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=181&rnd=140.27140224229512

Sempers,

Roger
:marine:

[thedrifter]

08-26-2003

Lynch Deserved Praise – But Not the Medal







By Matthew Dodd



I was, like most Americans, very relieved and happy when I heard the news that Pfc. Jessica Lynch and her fellow soldiers were rescued. After hearing the horror stories about the torturous methods of the former Iraqi regime, it was all too easy to imagine the unimaginable happening to our soldiers being held as prisoners of war (POWs). Knowing they were all back under coalition control was joyous news.



The public media coverage of our Iraqi POW saga was impossible to ignore. I, too, was glued to the television when Pfc. Lynch arrived home and addressed the nation. I found her to be a charming, humble, sincere young woman who was obviously proud to be a soldier and extremely thankful for all the love, support, and encouragement she and her family received all throughout her ordeal. I am grateful that she is alive and for the fact that we have such fine young people voluntarily serving in our military.



However, despite all the hype, emotional appeal, and the apparent dedicated lobbying efforts of many pushing their own agendas, I am vehemently opposed to attaching the label “hero” to Pfc. Lynch.



Pfc. Lynch was a POW, not a wartime hero. A dictionary defines hero as “any person admired for courage, nobility, etc.” From all that I have been able to learn about the circumstances surrounding her capture and her actions leading up to her rescue, I have seen nothing noble or courageous to admire.



She was a passenger in a vehicle in a convoy that took a wrong turn and ran into a deliberate ambush. Her vehicle crashed and she was so severely injured in the crash that she was knocked unconscious and unable to fight or resist capture. She was taken prisoner by her ambushers, given excellent medical care in a hospital, and was subsequently rescued from that hospital in a well-executed raid by well-trained forces.



From what I just summarized, the U.S. Army decided to give her a Bronze Star Medal with the following citation excerpts:



“For exemplary courage under fire during combat operations [from Mar 23-Apr 2, 2003 (11 days)] … Private First Class Lynch’s bravery and heart persevered while surviving in the ambush and captivity .… [Her] belief in [her] Battalion’s motto “One Team, One Fight” is in keeping with the finest traditions of military service. Her honor, courage and dedication reflect great credit upon herself, 507th Maintenance Company, 3d Infantry Division, Victory Corps, and The United States Army.”



I have never written an Army Bronze Star Medal recommendation package. I have seen and written many Marine Corps Meritorious Masts (authorized and awarded by company commanders) for deserving Marines that contained more truth, details, and substance than Pfc. Lynch’s pitifully weak citation above.



I suspect that Lynch’s award was pre-approved at the highest levels, and that the task of writing the award package became a mere administrative “check-in-the-block.” I somehow cannot believe that her award package was initiated and submitted by her unit, and subsequently judged on its own merits against other submitted awards, and then approved all the way up the chain of command by her corps commander and the secretary of the Army. Some news reports allege that Army officials pressed for a Silver Star medal for Lynch, but yielded when her unit resisted.



Regardless of how and when the decision to award the Bronze Star to Pfc. Lynch was made, it proves to me that the Army today has a blatant, systemic disregard for maintaining the highest standards for its highest combat awards.



Let me share with you my analysis of Lynch’s citation as if I were a member of an awards board somewhere in Pfc. Lynch’s chain-of-command:



Since Pfc. Lynch was either unconscious or incapacitated following the vehicle crash, her “exemplary courage under fire during combat operations” was limited to the few moments between the initiation of the ambush and the vehicle crash. I understand she did not fire her weapon at all so I wonder how she demonstrated her courage under fire.



Next, her “bravery and heart persevered while surviving in the ambush and captivity.” That sentence tells me that she did not give up her will to live despite her extensive injuries. Being a fan of individual character, I appreciate her choice, but I do not see that character trait being justification for a combat award.



Her battalion had a catchy motto. She apparently believed in that motto. How did she show her belief in that motto, and how does her belief in that motto live up to “the finest traditions of military service?” Was she special among the members of her battalion by actually believing in the battalion motto?



As far as her honor, courage, and dedication reflecting great credit upon herself and her entire chain-of-command, I just do not see any evidence that she did anything above and beyond surviving her horrendous injuries and not giving up her will to live. I would hope most of her fellow soldiers did or would have done the same exact things if they found themselves in the same circumstances.



I have absolutely nothing against Pfc. Lynch. My only complaint is with the leaders in Lynch’s chain of command who approved and then thrust this combat award upon her and nurtured the false myth that she is a heroic woman warrior. She was a good soldier who survived a tragic, combat-related accident of incompetence and was rescued by warriors who did more to earn the label “hero” than she did. Where are the awards and public media coverage for those heroes who rescued Lynch?



I admit that I am biased in my assessment of POW Lynch as a mislabeled war hero. I am biased by the heroic citations of our former POWs who earned the Medal of Honor. Two examples in particular:



Air Force Maj. George E. (“Bud”) Day suffered a broken arm in three places and a badly injured knee when he was shot down in North Vietnam. He was captured, and interrogated and tortured in a prison camp. He escaped and was eventually ambushed, wounded again, re-captured, and returned to his captors. His citation noted his continuous maximum resistance as “significant in saving the lives of fellow aviators who were still flying against the enemy.”



Navy Capt. James B. Stockdale ejected from his crippled plane and parachuted into North Vietnam where he was beaten in the streets by an angry mob, bound and captured, and refused favors in exchange for medical treatment on his severely broken leg. Recognized as the senior ranking U.S. prisoner responsible for organizing widespread resistance to their enemy captors, he was singled out for interrogation and attendant torture. Using self-disfiguration and inflicting a near fatal wound to himself as symbols of his willingness to die rather than capitulate, his actions led to his captors easing up on the harassment and torture of all prisoners, and “earned the everlasting gratitude of his fellow prisoners and of his country.”



Let’s put these three citations in perspective. We have two men who were badly injured prior to their capture, brutally tortured over a period of many years, continuously resisted their captors’ efforts, and through their self-sacrificing leadership examples inspired their fellow prisoners and helped save their fellow prisoners’ lives. They both earned our nation’s highest combat honor.



Then we have Pfc. Lynch, who was given the Bronze Star, our nation’s fourth-highest combat honor, for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, suffering horrendous vehicle accident injuries that prevented her from resisting capture, receiving life-saving medical attention from her captors, and being rescued in a daring raid about two weeks after she was first captured.



What does the vast disparity in the standards for these combat awards say about the relative value and fairness of our combat awards system? Do we have a double standard for combat awards based on gender expectations?



One former Marine’s e-mail to me said it best and inspired me to write this article:



“So let’s use Lynch as the foundation for future medals. Since she never fired her weapon, then anyone who does fire it (at the enemy) receives a Silver Star. To shoot at the enemy and be fired at and even hit back, you receive the Distinguished Service Cross …. To shoot the enemy and get hit back and actually kill the enemy, wow, you get a Purple Heart, campaign ribbon, combat action ribbon, and Medal of Honor. At the rate this is going, I am going to find out what company is authorized to sell these medals and buy stock in that company.”



My hat is off to Pfc. Lynch, the former Iraqi POW, but not to the farcical “war hero” her shameless chain-of-command would have all of us believe she was.



Lt. Col. Matthew Dodd USMC is a Senior Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at mattdodd1775@hotmail.com.
Lynch Deserved Praise – But Not the Medal">

http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Defensewatch%20Special.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=178&rnd=563.641040050397


Sempers,

Roger
:marine:

[marine5]

Darn..just like a bunch of old women...
Just look at the know it all EGOS running all over this poor
"WOUNDED SOLDIER"....at least she was there doing her job.
I have seen Officers and Staff NCO's in the Corps get Purple Hearts and Bronze Stars for doing less...in Vietnam, getting their tickets
punched on the way up...
She was a US Army PVT, REMF not a US Marine Grunt...
She didn't asked to be put in the "SPOTLIGHT"...
So lets ease up a bit...especially the Army Col of all people.

[Art Petersn]

They have to have a hero and a women just makes it that much better

[JChristin]

We haven't really heard a "peep" out of Lynch yet, so the assault against her, her character, and her abilities, is rather premature. Of course, when the old order gets rattled a bit, intellectual constipation occurs and like any of the other old folks at the home, they can't see, talk, or walk too steady.

marine5 brought up valid points.

I'll wait until the fat lady sings to sling mud or shout praises at Lynch. Until then, it's all old lady grabble.

semper fi,
jchristin

[travissoleski]

You know all of you have valid points, being in the PGW I've seen some dumb **** but sometimes its just the way it is. Let the girl do her own talking, for godsake she wants to be a teacher, so she needs to start talking in some form in the near future. Why not this subject. Of course the media will eat this type of stuff up, they are the true villians here. You know many years later when I married, I found out through watching the History Channel w/ my wife, that the war was televised as much as it was. Now I know how the media can bend and shape society. All wars were covered in this capacity, given all the gratitude and respect all deserve.
What I fear is that they (the media) make this into a three ring circus, and for godsake don't pose for friggin "Playboy" yes even they know no boundries, yes they will be asking her I've heard.
Lets just sit back and relax and see what unfolds, it should be very interesting.
SEMPER FI