Word: soldierly
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...fearsome thing to be turned into an icon, draped with powers and meanings of other people's choosing. To the thousands who wrote letters, sent teddy bears and flowers and handmade quilts, to the millions who prayed for her safety, Lynch is an archetypal American soldier, a symbol of courage under fire. As the challenge in Iraq grows, as the nightly body count reminds us of the terrible risks the soldiers face, people want to show they care. Lynch's is the name they know, and so the letters keep pouring in, and old women press notes scribbled on napkins...
...word hurts too much when so many died, and her best friend's body was pulled out of a shallow grave on the hospital grounds by the same commandos who rescued her. That friend, Lori Piestewa, is her hero, for staying so calm under fire, as are the soldiers who fought bravely all around her. Lynch herself did not fire a shot and spent most of her time in the humvee huddled in a protective ball. Ask her what she would like to symbolize, and there is a long, long pause. "I haven't really thought about that," she says...
Because it was a support unit, the 507th was equipped for duty behind the front lines--except that the front turned out to be beside and behind and all around them. There were no antitank weapons, no heavy artillery, just a .50-cal. machine gun that--like the soldier's M-16 rifles--didn't work very well, clogged and jammed with three days' worth of blowing sand. By the time her lost convoy came under fire in the streets of Nasiriyah, Lynch's rifle was about as useful as a hockey stick. The soldiers had been instructed to clean...
...unit, says the official Army report on what happened, "found itself in a desperate situation due to a navigational error caused by the combined effects of the operational pace, acute fatigue, isolation and the harsh environmental conditions. The tragic results of this error placed the soldiers of the 507th Maintenance Company in a torrent of fire." During the roughly 1 1/2-hour-long fire fight that they endured, the report concludes, "every soldier performed honorably and did his or her duty...
...Iraqi insurgent and an American soldier--have more in common than one might expect. Both are fathers who care deeply about their children and their country. Both see their jobs as their duty. Both pray each time they head out on a new mission. "They have their way of fighting, and we have our way of fighting," says Ahmed, who fingers amber-colored prayer beads as he talks. "Everyone wants to defend his country and his honor." Says Bear: "I want my wife and family to be proud of me because what I am doing is protecting them...