I Am a Soldier, Too : The Jessica Lynch Story

Rating:
Summary: 2 1/2 hrs reading,and you will understand Jessi's story*
Review: Author Rick Brag did an awesome job of telling the true story behind Private First Class Jessica Lynch's ordeal. She is a simple country gal who grew up in a close knit American town, but like so many small towns in West Virginia, this means there are not too many options facing it's high school graduates.
Precious few jobs exist and that is why small country hollers in the middle of nowhere, USA recruit the highest per capita ratio of young people willing to become soldiers.
The military is the only exciting future for many teens.
Jessi was one such person - tough as nails and pretty as a tiny doll. She proved herself to be an American hero in an Iraqi battlefield.
Many people don't know this, but Jessica Lynch was awarded the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, and the Prisoner of War Medal.
She deserves each and every distinguished metal, and she has the internal & external scars to prove her mettle.
Some rude people are skeptical of her sacrifices, but as they sit on thier ever-expanding duffs critising everybody, Jessi is struggling to rehabilitate her legs and bladder and bowels.
Her wounds are far from being healed even today.
What horrors her dreams are made of nightly from being a prisoner of war I can only shiver and wonder about.
She gave all that she could for this war and served the US Army to her utmost abilities.
It is difficult to know that there are persons who wish to defame Jessica Lynch - people like that belong in hell.
YES, she is a super-star, a woman warrior and famous person who recieved many special gifts as well as discretionary bonuses, but Jessica herself is adamant that she would give "Four hundred billion dollars" for none of it to have ever occured, if she could somehow board a time machine and take back the combat death of her best roomy friend, Private First Class Lori Piestwa.
Jessica would do anything to talk her friend, PFC Lori Piestewa, out of going into Iraq, because her friend had papers discussing a shoulder injury which would have enabled her to stay in the safe zone.
Private Piestwa was a Hopi Indian and was the first Hopi to die in the line of fire in the history of this nation.
She leaves behind two young children, under the tender age of 5. I plowed through this book, reading about Jessica's life, but when I hit page 167 --- tears exploded in my eyes --- on this page is the picture of the father of Lori Piestewa, as a poem written for his daughter was being read at the Women in Military Service Memorial at Arlington National Cemetary.
Oh ... the anguish, the hoplessness, the sorrowful look on the old man's face...it crushed my hearts into bits and pieces and his grief came rushing into my own heart.
Jessica tells her story and does not leave out those heros who were tragically left behind; those who can never go home again.
The only consolation is that the body of young Private First Class Lori Piestewa was found and taken back to her family.
Her remains are now buried close to her kin, not buried in an unmarked place in the sandy dunes of Iraq.
This story moved me more than any of the other books that I have reviewed here. It's a story that rings of truth, of youth and consequences of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I sincerely wish that Jessica Lynch marries her sweetheart, Sgt. Rueben Contreras, and that they can have a happy life together.
I sincerely wish the people of Palestine, West Virginia, God's blessings and good grace; they truly love Jessica Lynch.
In spite of terrible tragedies, such as death, it is important to remember that life goes on...it simply has to go on.
After reading this book, (it only took 2 1/2 hours to read it from cover to cover.) I prayed for the soldiers in Iraq -- and those who will not make it home outside of the body bag. I pray for them and their families and for this great nation of ours who puts a high value on freedom and democracy for all humankind.
This story will move you like none other.
It makes me feel so proud to be an American, and to have those ideals of family, God and democracy deep in my heart.
God Bless the USA!

Rating:
Summary: Very well narrated and rich drama
Review: I previously reviewed "Escape in Iraq: the Thomas Hamill story" and gave it four stars. The Jessica Lynch story is narrated by a clever author. His choice of the chapters' title and sequence makes a lot of sense. Almost all the titles are single words accurately descriptive of the chapters' content. The most striking feature of the author's style is the great depth of his understanding of the political and social factors that interplay in government-citizens relationship. He did not attempt to take sides between the warring governments, nor did he attempt to raise Jessica to a status she is not entitled to. He merely spoke the truth and filtered myths and lies.

The book sensibly describes the socioeconomic upbringing of a little, young, poor, and undereducated American woman who enlists in the Army as the only resolve out of the financial despair and emptiness of the impoverished state of West Virginia. Her dream is to see the world and become a kindergarten teacher, to hold a lot of babies. The army recruiters promised her with travel and never minded her merely 100-pound bodyweight, or her prescription glasses. The boot-camp drill sergeant treated her brashly and demeaned the people from her impoverished state of West Virginia. Out of her despair, she took it as well-meaning method of breaking her down and rebuilding her anew in order to suite soldiers'life. Her best friend Lori Piestewa came from similar background. Both Jessica and Lori drove five-ton utility trucks from Kuwait to Nasiriyah. Yet, Lori died there and her body was dug out of the sand by the Marines. Jessica survived, with multiple broken bones and nerve injuries.

The infuriating fact about the poor judgment of the Army is allowing a weak, little, female to drive a truck in unaccustomed terrains, during wartime, and with no reliable instructions. The commander of her company, captain Troy King, is a dental assistant who was supposed to execute given instructions of avoiding a populated city like Nasiriyah by skirting it through a different highway. Instead, he drove his caravan to their death, which came in the form of attacks by civilian-dressed Iraqis. The destruction of Jessica's Humvee incapacitated her. That was the first fighting in the war. She was taken to the hospital and treated until the occupying American army freed her and transported her to Germany.

The author strikes smart balance between the many concerned parties, as follows.

1) He questions the allegation by the Iraqi lawyer, Mohammed Odeh Al Rehaief, who claimed that Jessica was slapped and abused by Saddam's Fedayeen and contends that it never happened, since Jessica did not recall such event.

2) He questions the military story of publishing a video that shows special forces rescuing Jessica using night vision goggles, attacking the hospital, restraining patients, and frightening medical staff.

3) He rebuts the falsification of Jessica's fighting the enemy until the last bullet and explains the realistic events that took place during her injury, which did not involve gunshots.

4) He exonerates the Iraqi medical staff of malicious intent and justifies their limited medical resources during the wartime. Moreover, he sympathizes with murdered Iraqi children and grandmothers by American bombs.

5) He honestly conveyed clearly and straightforward Jessica's mom, Dee, resentment for the medals and publicity and wish to have her daughter the way she joined the Army.

6) He did not forget the loss of her friend, Lori, and put her family's picture in the book. In addition, he addressed the protest of others who were upset on the exaggerated welcome and treatment of a soldier who never fired a shot at the enemy and the government that takes advantage of a low ranking soldier to sell the war to the people and for presidential election gain.

7) He described in many details the well-meaning people who sent letters, donated money and time to renovate Jessica's house and hometown for a celebrated return home.

The two things the author did not do are:

1) He did stress on the great benefits of celebrating a living soldier who will go through very traumatizing post-conflict syndrome after all the fuss of medals and publicity is over. As for those who lost their loved ones and very little could be done about their grief, the celebration of the returned soldier does not diminish the significance of the role of the soldiers lost in action.

2) As a humanistic matter, the thousands of lost Iraqi lives and many more thousands of injured Iraqis should have been stressed strongly. Those will never get the level of care of western hospitals and they are not enemies to anyone. Their neglect and tragedy is causing the lingering of deadly occupation. It is very clear that the occupation of Iraq did not take into consideration the enormous loss of lives and gigantic resources needed to care of the injured without global help in due time.






Rating:
Summary: Women do not belong on active duty.
Review: I picked up the Jessica Lynch book on a wim and found the book to be excellent. I had read Rick Bragg's "All Over But The Shoutin" and loved his storytelling skills. He tells the Jessica Lynch story in a very sensitive and honest manner. Again his storytelling skills are remarkable. I am so glad that I read this book so that I was able to see an entirely differnet side of the Lynch story. the real story.

Rating:
Summary: Honest and Interesting
Review: I found "I am A Soldier, Too" as an extremely honest and excellent story that I found hard to put down. Rick Bragg does an excellent job in describing the strength and courage of a young woman that was made into the face of the Iraq War. This world could use more people like that young women in it.