September 4, 2003

First, I'm not trying to take anything away from those brave servicemen/women who face life and death situations on combat situations day after day, night after night... But hang on a minute, they're actually paid to do that - they can have alternative careers, if they so choose to. The fact that they've chosen and trained to become killers (of a very organized kind, but killers nevertheless) or assistants to a military machine, they've to live with the prospect of working in advanced areas of combat zones, or even behind enemy lines. This being so, the reality of being captured by the enemy is a real and present danger to each and everyone of them. The fact that Pvt Lynch was captured is a military reality and her subsequently rescued by fellow soldiers were not her act of bravery, but those of her comrades in arms. There's little points for celebrating being the subject of a successful rescue mission. Instead, she should simply count her blessings.

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September 8, 2003

War is something that is conducted by humans and no matter how much planning and training go into battle preparation, human errors occur. And since we've always relied on technologies of one sort or another to achieve an advantage against our enemies, equipments do fail from time to time and led the soldiers into the unplanned and unknown. While many battles have been won and lost due to human errors, it is not the errors that actually determined the final results - it is the troops' and commanders' abilities to react and change their tactics to either take advantage or rectify these errors. Many war heroes that we worship or have been decorated have achieve their fame and legacies by either recovering from these errors to achieve their objectives or have taken advantage of the unexpected opportunities to deal a blow to the enemies.

In case of Pvt Lynch, she probably didn't create the error - it would appear that a combination of bad luck and being at the wrong place at the wrong time led to her capture - but she didn't appear to have participated in the solution apart from being the subject of a rescue mission.

Has she been decorated? I don't know as I haven't been following developments regarding her and I don't think I've the time and energy to do so, since as far as I'm concern, she hasn't achieve much to date, apart from surviving and being rescued. In case that she hasn't been decorated, I feel that is the right outcome and my respect for the military (and its integrity) is enhanced.

Is her action/inaction heroic? I guess you can gather from my chain of reasoning that, in my opinion, she is not a hero/heroine.

Is her book deal a just reward for being part of a human error which has a 'happy ending'? I don't think so. I don't think that is what it means to pursue a military career. I'm not the 'military type' and have never served in the military. You can call me a chicken or accuse me for being 'unpatriotic', but I don't think the military is something for me. However, I understand and aspire to the ideals of the military: honor, service, loyalty, discipline, cohesion, leadership, etc. In nowhere is 'commercial opportunism' part of the military philosophy. As I can guess, and I think adequately voiced by others in this thread, in pursuing her action, willingly or otherwise, she has sold out on her military ideals.

I would congratulate her and wish her luck with the book deal. However, I don't think her reward deserved nor her action soldiery.

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