I found this article on yahoo the other day about an Iraq War vet in my hometown of El Paso, Texas. Back in 2003, a convoy from Fort Bliss in El Paso, got lost and later ambushed by the Taliban in Iraq. Most of you probably have no idea what I am talking about at first. But what if I were to say Jessica Lynch? Ring a bell? Jessica Lynch, a 19 year old soldier was attacked and taken as a POW for several days but not before "bravely fighting her attackers" and trying to be a hero. Later, Jessica fired back at the military and the media for spinning this story to promote their agenda. She went on to say that she never fought back because her weapon had been jammed. Instead, she just prayed. We heard headlines about Jessica Lynch for weeks on end. The media and the country declared her a "Hero". But what about the rest of her colleagues who were captured or killed? Why weren't they declared heroes? The article I picked out is about a woman named Shoshana Johnson. She too was captured that day, alongside Jessica, and she too was later rescued. What's the difference you ask? Shoshana Johnson is African American:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_pow_memoir
I remember the whole event of Jessica Lynch being rescued, and who the media blow the story out of portion. It is and unfortunate event that most of the United State soldiers, from all the branches do have PTSD based on what they have seen or what they have been through in the field.
It is going to sound wrong for me to say this, but I'm going to say this the knew what they were getting themselves into when they singed up in the military, as they took the oath:
the oath states:
I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
With that in mind, All soldiers take this oath with honor, because it is something the strongly and truly believe in, and is something that most Americans really do not recognize. But in the soldiers defense they might be doing something that goals against there morals or there ethics but they do there jobs and obey orders for us. So we don't have to face terrorism, or acts of violence here in America.
Something to think about, if it was not for Shoshana Johnson and the color of her skin that the media played on the Jessica Lynch story to boost or increase the moral of the privileged if you look at the pictures and faces of the men and women who have died in both wars it is unfortunate, because we as American believe what is said by the media... if we watch it with open mind and we look at the history we our in war for a verity of different reason.. Oil for economic gain, to cover up the dishonesty of past events such as United States funding wars by the use of Drugs in the 70-80 crack cocaine epidemic During Regan's area... Afghanistan the CIA and the United States government funded training and weapons to fight Russia cold war to end communism.. In Iraq we put Saddam in power to fight Iran and providing weapons... and in South American we put Manuel Noriega in power (Panama) to stop the war on drugs but he used both sides, then we took him out of power. But i guess people do not recognize this because they our close minded..
According to CNN: in Iraq... There have been 4,696 coalition deaths -- 4,379 Americans, two Australians, one Azerbaijani, 179 Britons, 13 Bulgarians, one Czech, seven Danes, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Fijian, five Georgians, one Hungarian, 33 Italians, one Kazakh, three Latvians, 22 Poles, three Romanians, five Salvadoran, four Slovaks, one South Korean, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians -- in the Iraq war as of February 9, 2010, according to a CNN count.
In Afghanistan: There have been 1,614 coalition deaths -- 977 Americans, 11 Australians, one Belgian, 257 Britons, 139 Canadians, three Czech, 29 Danes, 21 Dutch, seven Estonians, one Finn, 40 French, 31 Germans, two Hungarians, 22 Italians, three Latvian, one Lithuanian, five Norwegians, 16 Poles, two Portuguese, 11 Romanians, one South Korean, 28 Spaniards, four Swedes, two Turks and one NATO/ISAF-- in the war on terror as of February 12, 2010, according to a CNN count.