[Preacherman]

From the Baltimore Sun (http://www.sunspot.net/news/bal-te.miller28sep28,0,2899568.story?coll=bal-home-headlines):

A famous fight, an unsung hero

Iraq: During one of the war's bloodiest battles, a young private saved fellow soldiers and then kept cool amid weeks of captivity. His name is Patrick Miller.

By Tom Bowman
Sun National Staff
Originally published September 28, 2003

FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Pfc. Jessica Lynch is the celebrity soldier of the Iraq war. Pfc. Patrick Miller, a member of the same company captured with her in a ferocious firefight, remains one of its unsung heroes.

Lynch, Miller and others in their convoy mistakenly drove into the vipers' nest of Nasiriyah in southern Iraq, early on a March morning and were encircled by Iraqi fighters. In the ensuing swirl of chaos and shouting, wrong turns and unrelenting fire, Lynch's Humvee crashed, and she lay unconscious among her dead and dying comrades.

It was Miller, a 23-year-old Army welder from Kansas, who single-handedly took on several Iraqis, manually slamming rounds into his assault rifle and firing as they prepared to lob mortar rounds at Lynch and other soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company.

"He's one of my heroes," said Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson, who was wounded and leaning against her truck as Miller dashed past her up a dusty road toward the Iraqi mortar pit. "His actions may have saved my life."

Miller was the sole member of the unit to receive the Silver Star, one of the military's highest awards for valor. Nearly 130,000 Army troops served in the Iraq war and its aftermath, but only 86 Silver Stars had been awarded through mid-September, according to the Army Personnel Command. Lynch and other members of the 507th received Bronze Stars, a notch below the Silver Star.

"Shoshana yelled at him, 'Get down, Miller! Get down! You're going to get hit!'" said another soldier, Spc. Edgar Hernandez, describing how Miller charged toward the Iraqis. Hernandez recalled hearing automatic fire from Iraqi AK-47s and the single shots of Miller's M-16 rifle.

As a prisoner of war, Miller badgered his interrogators for three weeks, singing an off-key rendition of country singer Toby Keith's anti-terrorist song, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue." And he fooled them.

The Iraqis pressed him to explain a series of numbers and code words scratched on a piece of paper inside his helmet. Prices for power-steering pumps, he told them. The soldiers tossed the paper into a small campfire, unaware that they had destroyed information vital to an enemy: radio frequencies for an invading unit.

"He's a Pfc. in the Army and he exposed himself without hesitation to the enemy to save his comrades," said Col. Heidi V. Brown, who commanded the Army task force in Iraq that included Miller's unit and who wrote his medal ciTation, based on interviews with U.S. soldiers and Iraqis. "It doesn't get more heroic than that."

All the witnesses corroborated the tale of Miller's charging toward a mortar pit and shooting at the enemy, said Brown in a telephone interview, though no one could agree on a precise number of enemy dead. An Army investigative report said it could have been as many as nine. "Absolutely, he killed some Iraqis," Brown said.

A myth is born

The story of Lynch, then a 19-year-old Army supply clerk from West Virginia, began as a piece of faulty information. An intercepted Iraqi radio transmission referred to a blond American woman who repeatedly fired on her attackers, despite bullet and stab wounds.

The inaccuracy was passed on to reporters, and the myth of a slightly built clerk who morphed into a fierce warrior quickly circulated. Her legend only grew when Special Operations soldiers stormed a hospital in early April and rescued her. But to this day, according to Army investigators, there is no known evidence that she ever fired her weapon or killed any Iraqis.

Lynch, who left the Army with a medical discharge this summer, never portrayed herself as a hero. When she returned home to West Virginia in July, she thanked those who rescued her and said she regretted that some in her company never made it home.

"Patrick is a brave soldier, risking his life as he did to save others. I am proud of his courage," Lynch said Friday, in remarks relayed through Paul Bogaards, a spokesman for Alfred A. Knopf. The publishing house signed her to a $1 million book deal for her wartime experiences titled I am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story.

She will also be the subject of a network TV movie, with a young Canadian portraying her. An industrial area in Dallas has been converted into a fictional Nasiriyah -- complete with Saddam Hussein bas-reliefs.

Early this month, ABC News personality Diane Sawyer scored the first on-air interview with Lynch. It is scheduled for November, the same month her memoir will arrive in bookstores.

There are no agents, books or movie deals for Miller, whom the Army transferred last month from Texas to this wind-swept military base hard up against the forested mountains of the Rampart Range in central Colorado. In May, he was grand marshal at an Armed Forces Day parade in Topeka, Kan., up the interstate from Valley Center, his rural hometown of about 5,000. Several weeks later he threw out the first ball at a Kansas City Royals baseball game.

Miller appeared on the NBC News show Dateline last month with four other prisoners of war from the 507th -- minus Jessica Lynch -- though his story was lost among the recollections of his comrades. One of his few interviews was with a small newspaper in Alabama, when he traveled there this summer for an Army event.

Gangly and bespectacled, with a loping gait, Miller speaks in a broad Kansas drawl that enlivens his casual grammar and the occasional "dang." His lower lip bulges with an ever-present wad of chewing tobacco.

Johnson, his fellow POW from the 507th, couldn't recall anything particularly special about Miller when they were stationed together at Fort Bliss, Texas, in the months before they headed off to war. "A down-to-earth country boy," Johnson remembered with a laugh. "He likes his chew. That's all I remember about Pat: He had that chew in his mouth."

Miller now spends his days toiling in a motor pool as part of the 2nd Company of the 43rd Area Support Group. Because most of the unit's heavy equipment has been shipped over to Iraq, his welding torch has been cold. Recently, he has been cutting the grass and slathering brown and white paint on the building's interior walls. Every so often, a fellow soldier will quiz him about his service in Iraq.

A $25,000-a-year private first class, Miller lives in a modest three-bedroom townhouse on base with his wife, Jessa,, and two children, 4-year-old Tyler and 14-month-old Makenzie. The children are in day care while his wife works making glasses for LensCrafters. One day, Miller hopes to rise to a higher enlisted rank -- an Army warrant officer -- and oversee a maintenance shop, perhaps putting in 20 years.

He brushed aside talk of heroism in an interview and recounted his actions in a matter-of-fact tone, as if the conversation had turned to the coming season for Kansas State football or needed repairs on his brown and dented 1989 Chevrolet Corsica. All but the most personal elements of his account were confirmed in other interviews by The Sun and the Army and official Army documents.

"I was doing what I get paid to do," he said. His Army training "kicked in" when he faced enemy fighters.

But the fact that Miller remains an unknown grates on Johnson and some in Miller's family.

"Jessica's a wonderful girl, and we're happy she's OK," Johnson said. "But it was Patrick; it wasn't Jessica. His weapon was working. He was doing everything possible. Patrick deserves so much, and he's not getting the recognition. He's still a private first class. He hasn't even been promoted."

'A miracle he's alive'

Miller's mother, Mary Pickering, agreed. "Nobody's focusing on it. If it hadn't been for Pat, some or most would have died, including Jessica Lynch," Pickering said in a phone interview. "It's a miracle he's alive."

On resentment from her fellow soldiers that she has grabbed all the limelight, Lynch said: "I won't ever forget the brave soldiers of the 507th. I think about them every day."

Miller did not seem destined for battlefield heroics when he enlisted in the Army in May of last year. At basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., he scored an unimpressive 26 on the M-16 qualification on the rifle range, enough to earn a "marksman" badge, the lowest qualifying designation. At Fort Bliss, he honed his skills as a welder, a trade he learned at a community college in Kansas.

Before he raised his M-16 rifle toward that mortar pit in March, he had not fired his weapon since the previous August at the practice range.

At the same time, Miller has a strong sense of self-reliance and responsibility, say those who know him. He endured his parents' divorce when he was 6 and became a father while in his late teens, marrying a girl he met while a cook at a burger joint in Kansas.

"Most of the stuff I've done in life, I've done myself," he said. "The ability to be a good leader is built while you're growing up."

There is also a quiet tenacity and stubbornness to Miller. He will quickly tell you that he doesn't much like Army officers, or any kind of authority figures, for that matter. And those personality traits helped him in the harrowing days after the 507th left Camp Virginia in Kuwait and rumbled north into the vast and lonely desert of Iraq.

The battle at Nasiriyah

The lights of Nasiriyah were twinkling in the distant blackness as the 33 soldiers in the 18-truck convoy rolled along. There was an assortment of heavy vehicles, from Humvees to tractor-trailers and 2 1/2 -ton rigs. Miller was far to the rear inside the cab of a 5-ton wrecker pulling a water trailer.

Miller and the other soldiers assumed the illumination marked their planned staging area. But when the convoy crossed the Euphrates River and headed deep into the city, it soon dawned on the 507th that they were on the wrong road.

The Army later determined that a "navigational error" -- caused by the combined effects of "operational pace, acute fatigue, isolation and harsh environmental conditions" -- led the company to miss the route that was meant to take them around Nasiriyah and onto a highway north toward Baghdad.

The sun was just rising on March 23 when Miller spotted men carrying AK-47s strolling along Nasiriyah's narrow streets. The long line of American military trucks rolled through an Iraqi checkpoint, and two men with pistols simply watched them pass. Other armed men on the street waved.

"I was worried but not super-worried," Miller said. Then the company commander, Capt. Troy King, drove up alongside in his Humvee and appeared nervous. They would have to turn around and head south to find the right road, the captain said.

"We're in an unsecured area. Stay alert. Keep your eyes peeled," King told them, Miller recalled.

The Kansas welder grew even more skittish when he saw a small Iraqi civilian truck with a .50-caliber machine gun attached driving back and forth beside the convoy.

"Just watch it and make sure it doesn't do anything," said Sgt. James Riley, who sat beside Miller in the wrecker.

Suddenly the tell-tale pop, pop, pop of automatic weapons fire erupted.

"We're getting shot at!" Miller shouted and slammed his boot into the gas pedal. The truck surged forward, and the engine whined, the speedometer quickly arcing from 40 mph to 65. But the convoy soon overshot a turn and was forced to drive off the road.

Two soldiers in a 5-ton tractor-trailer, Pvt. Brandon U. Sloan and Sgt. Donald R. Walters, were stuck in the soft sand. Miller screamed for Sloan, a 19-year-old logistics specialist from Cleveland, to get into the wrecker. When Miller looked around for Walters, he was nowhere in sight.

The Army report later said, "There is some information to suggest that a U.S. soldier that could have been Walters fought his way south of Highway 16 toward a canal and was killed in action." The report also said, "The circumstances of his death cannot be conclusively determined," although his body was found in a shallow grave with bullet and stab wounds. Walters' family in Oregon believes that the blond, wiry soldier may have been mistaken for Jessica Lynch in the intercepted Iraqi radio transmission that referred to a blond American woman heroically battling attackers.

As Miller wheeled his wrecker around, he could spot Iraqis on the barren plain about a mile away, hurriedly setting up artillery and mortars and shouldering rocket-propelled grenade launchers. "We had to go through the kill zone to get out," he said.

In front of Miller was a Humvee driven by Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa, according to the Army's investigative report of the battle. First Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy rode in the front passenger seat, firing his M-16 rifle out the window. Two other soldiers, Spc. Edward Anguiano and Sgt. George Buggs shot from each side of the rear seat with heavier weaponry, M249 Squad Automatic Weapons. Lynch sat between them.

Shells and grenades sailed toward the convoy and shattered with deafening explosions just 30 yards away from the line of American trucks. Bullets began to ping off Miller's rig from all directions. He reached out to adjust his side-view mirror just as a bullet shattered the glass. He then ducked close to the dash as he drove, while Riley loaded M-16 rifles in the middle seat and Sloan sat next to the window.

A bullet zipped into the cab and slammed into Sloan's forehead, just under his helmet, killing him instantly. "Never said a word," Miller said of Sloan.

The withering fire finally struck the wrecker's transmission. The rig slowed, then rolled to a stop, barely making it over the bridge spanning the Euphrates River. Miller turned to see several white Iraqi taxis on the road behind them, with gunmen spilling out and training their AK-47s on the fleeing American soldiers.

Grabbing his ammunition vest and rifle, Miller jumped from the wrecker. He and Riley raced forward to reach the others in the convoy, several hundred yards up the road. A tractor-trailer with Johnson and Hernandez in the cab had swerved off the road and stopped, while the Humvee driven at a high speed by Piestewa had crashed into the truck's rear, leaving only a tangle of metal and bodies. All five soldiers inside the wreckage appeared dead or nearly so. Miller saw Lynch's foot twitch and assumed she was in her death throes.

Miller and Riley stumbled ahead and found Johnson and Hernandez, both wounded, huddled in their truck. Riley, whose weapon had malfunctioned, tried desperately to grab an M-16 rifle from the demolished Humvee but was unsuccessful. He then tried to fire the rifles of Johnson and Hernandez, but they jammed, according to the Army's investigative report. Many of the company's rifles jammed because of the dusty conditions and lack of maintenance, the Army later found. The sergeant told his wounded subordinates to take cover, then stayed with them to protect them.

Miller, meanwhile, spotted an Iraqi dump truck and raced toward it, hoping to commandeer it and drive the survivors to safety. As he ran, he could see the smoky tails of rocket-propelled grenades sail past him. Bullets kicked up dirt on the road.

Miller reached an earthen berm just across the road from the Iraqi truck. Then he noticed a group of Iraqis in front of the dump truck, some 50 feet away, setting up a mortar tube. A rocket-propelled grenade slammed into the far side of the berm, and Miller rolled out the other side. When he crawled back inside and peered over the top, he could see an Iraqi ready to drop a mortar round into the tube.

But Miller's rifle was jammed. A spent round would eject, but the new round would only go halfway into the chamber. Miller slammed his palm into a lever on the side of the gun, and the bullet slid into place. He raised his rifle and fired. The Iraqi collapsed in a heap before he could fire the mortar round.

Riley, in a telephone interview from Aberdeen Proving Ground where he is now an instructor at the Ordnance Center and School, said Miller "was behind a berm returning fire while the berm was being shot at. ... He'd pop up and fire." Bullets and RPG rounds "were smacking into everything all around."

Miller said he was never scared or even thinking about what he was doing, just reacting. His Army training returned: how to breathe, aim and squeeze the trigger. "The only thing I was thinking was if they don't get a mortar loaded, they can't blow them up," Miller said.

The remaining Iraqis jumped up and started firing their rifles at Miller, all missing. But their attack was never coordinated by having one take on Miller while the others launched mortar rounds at the remaining Americans.

One by one, Miller, by his count, shot seven Iraqis as each popped up and tried to work the mortar. After it was over, a large bruise spread over Miller's palm from the constant slapping against the rifle.

When the mortar pit fell silent, Miller turned around and saw an armed man running along a tree line behind him, shielded by two women. He shot toward them, and they all folded into the ground.

Then the two women suddenly rose and dashed away, with the man lagging behind. Miller aimed once more and squeezed the trigger. The man fell forward. It was Miller's final shot of the war.

The attack on the 507th lasted a little over an hour. Of 33 soldiers in the convoy, 11 were killed (including two from another unit), six were captured and nine were wounded, including some of those captured.

(Continued in next post)

[Preacherman]

(Continued from previous post)

Weeks of captivity

More than two dozen Iraqi men, all in civilian clothes and carrying assault rifles, surged toward Miller. He dropped his M-16 rifle in the dirt and raised his hands. One man punched him in the mouth, splitting his lip, while two others angrily pulled at his arms. Still another tried to hit him with a stick. A frenzied argument broke out in Arabic, and Miller realized they were talking about his fate.

"I thought they were going to shoot," he said. "I was just scared."

The group hustled Miller off to a nearby house, just as a car pulled up with uniformed Iraqi officers. They pulled off Miller's vest and helmet, fishing through his pockets and grabbing his cigarettes and chewing tobacco.

The Iraqis found a slip of paper inside his helmet, three series of four numbers. Each line had a code word, including "Vulture" and "Scavenger." They were the battalion's frequencies for emergencies and MedEvacs.

"I told them they were prices for power steering pumps," he said, holding his clenched hands in front of him to mimic driving. "Drive, you know?"

Power steering had been on his mind. Before leaving for Iraq, his Chevy Corsica blew its power steering pump as he placed it in storage. The Iraqis tossed the paper into a small fire in the middle of the floor.

Pulled from the house, Miller was placed in a Mitsubishi truck, with five Iraqis, for a silent drive to downtown Nasiriyah. He was paraded in front of a military headquarters building, a small crowd cheering as he was led inside. Taken into a small room with greenish white walls that held a couch, chairs and a desk, he was reunited with Hernandez and Riley as well as another member of the 507th, Spc. Joseph Hudson.

A man with a TV camera came in and identified himself as a reporter for Al-Jazeera, Miller remembered. An Iraqi officer took a seat behind the desk, coaching the reporter in Arabic about what to ask.

The Al-Jazeera tape, which appeared on Iraqi television, with excerpts later on American TV, shows a nervous and bewildered Miller in a sweaty Army-issue T-shirt. His eyes dart about, and he swallows hard. "Why do you come?" barked the questioner in heavily accented English.

"'Cause I was told to come here," Miller said, stumbling over his words. "I was just following orders. I came to fix broke stuff."

"You came to kill Iraqi people!" the questioner demanded.

"I'm told to shoot only if I'm shot at," Miller replied plaintively. "They shot at me. I shot back."

Although clearly frightened, Miller recalled that he actually felt better that there would now be televised pictures of him and his fellow soldiers. The tape would be seen by the Americans, he believed. "President Bush would tell them they're responsible," he said.

They were all led into another room, where Miller once again saw Johnson. "She was in pain. Shot in both ankles," he said.

The five soldiers from the 507th were loaded into a Toyota 4Runner, which turned north toward Baghdad, several hours away. All during the ride, the Iraqis hollered at the soldiers in a mixture of English and Arabic. "Why do you come here!" they kept shouting.

Miller and the others were blindfolded and led into a prison on the outskirts of Baghdad. Their uniforms were exchanged for yellow-and-white pajamas. Each soldier was placed in an 8-foot-by-6-foot cell with no furniture.

The only opening in the cell was a small, porthole-like window eight feet above the floor where a shaft of light streamed in. Miller was able to tear a piece of metal off the rusty cell door. He scratched three names on the wall: Jessa. Tyler. Makenzie.

Over the next three weeks, the American soldiers would be moved to seven locations. Each time, he would carve his wife's and children's names on the wall with the metal shard he hid in his pocket. "I wanted to make sure if I didn't come home and the Americans came they would see them," he said quietly, fearing he would die by the Iraqis or an errant U.S. bomb. "You never know if they'll kill you or your own people will kill you."

Johnson said Miller told her he was especially worried about never again seeing 8-month-old Makenzie. "She wouldn't even remember him," Johnson said.

On a diet of boiled chicken scraps, rice and hard bread, Miller came down with diarrhea and lost weight. All the while he alternated between defiance and despair, yearning for his family and having a few angry monologues with God. Inside his cells, he at times belted out the lyrics to "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue."

"This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage. And you'll be sorry that you messed with The U.S. of A...."

"Sit down! Shut up!" the Iraqi guards would shout whenever he sang.

Johnson and the other soldiers later joked that Miller's croaking rendition was a form of torture. "He sang it all the time," she said.

Through it all the Iraqi guards never mistreated them, Miller said, and shared cigarettes with their captives. Miller was puffing on a Viceroy one April morning at a private house outside Tikrit when a door burst open with a shout, "Get down!" The soldiers dropped to the floor and a squad of Marines charged into the room. "If you're American, stand up!" one of the Marines shouted.

The prisoners all stood and were quickly moved to an armored vehicle. No one said a word. Finally, when they were inside a helicopter, thumping toward an American airbase at the southern Iraqi city of Talil, Miller turned to Johnson and muttered, "We're really going home."

Returning to normal

Miller walked briskly toward his brick and wood townhouse complex, set on a treeless patch of prairie at the edge of Fort Carson. The small back yards are wreathed in chain-link fences. Children dashed about while young mothers sat and chatted on the stoops. A small blond child teetered down the concrete path. Miller bent over and lifted the child above his head. "Hello, Makenzie!"

Opening his front door, Miller strolled inside the tiny living room, where one wall is a patchwork of framed citations. Prisoner of War Medal. Purple Heart. Silver Star. "PFC Miller served heroically in combat," reads the Silver Star citation. "PFC Miller dismounted the vehicle and began firing on a mortar position that he determined was going to open fire at any minute on the convoy."

Set in the middle of the wall is a large framed picture with the words 507th Maintenance Company. There are nine head-and-shoulder portraits of soldiers in the unit who perished in Iraq, all cast in a ghostly white.

Miller flopped on the plaid couch. He said he wants to put the entire Iraqi episode behind him and get on with his life. Play with his kids. Work on his car. Complete the paperwork for the warrant officer program.

He is asked about the fame of Lynch and how her celebrity has eclipsed his heroics. He summed it all up with a shrug. "She's female. I'm male. It's expected of me," he said. Still, like some others in his company, he harbors a gnawing resentment that Lynch has emerged as the only story in the 507th.

"It just gets me how she gets credit for something she didn't do," he finally said. "We were all in the same unit."

Miller may lack national celebrity, but he has found a small, not insignificant, following at Fort Bliss, an Army post in the west Texas desert where Brown, the colonel who vetted his Silver Star, is stationed. She said she uses Miller's story as a leadership teaching tool for her officers. Recently, she gathered together 80 of them and told his tale in vivid detail.

Closing her presentation, she eyed her audience. "Would you do the things he did? Would you? Could you?"

[AZRickD]

Wow.

[C.R.Sam]

"I was doing what I get paid to do," he said. "Would you do the things he did? Would you? Could you?"

Sam

[Wild Bill]

Thanks for posting this Peter.
Read every word.
Powerful.

[El Tejon]

Anyone else have the tune of "Roger Young" in his head?

[rock jock]

I am disgusted at the fervor of the press in inventing the myth of Jessica Lynch for PC reasons and ignroing the true hero in this story. I am also proud of this young man as an American.

[El Tejon]

rock, I hate the filthy socialists in the media as well, but in this instance they were only fed what Broadway in the militree wanted them to say. True, the media's politics caused them to publish that tripe about Lynch without the BS detectors sounding, but Broadway is to blame here.

[Terminus]

PFC Miller has big, brass ones.
One can only theorize what would have happened if he had functional weapons to use.

[Keith]

I suspect this little firefight would have had a whole different outcome if they had firearms that would function. Somebody once said "If a gun won't run dirty, it's broke!" The M16 is broke.

Keith

[hops]

This Pfc was hand loading .223 rounds in to his M16's chamber, and he managed to kill 7 and survive, help his wounded comrades survive and he only gets a Silver Star? On top of that, he is 2nd echelon, non-combat mos, who had not fired his M16 in 8 months. A nomination for a CMH seems more in order. He had more to loose than the unfortunate Ms. Lynch.

This guy is a story for anyone - on what a person is capable of when pushed. I'd pay for his book! He should be on the 50K lecture circuit.

Perhaps the respect he has among his peers, be it first line combat troops or whatever, is a greater reward, than the financial reward Ms. Lynch is reaping.

[rock jock]

Good point hops. What is the hierarchy of medals for valor? If the CMH the next one above the Silver Star?

[teppo-shu]

WOW! The Audie Murphy of our time!!

Thanks for posting the story, Preacherman.

[geekWithA.45]

That's our guys!

Never say die!


Sidebar:


I will test my equipment regularly.
I will religiously maintain my AR-15 (ahem) XM-15.
I will practice using the forward assist.
I will keep a spare armament handy.

[hops]

Here is the link I found to the hierarchy, for the US Army,

http://www.americal.org/awards/#ArmyIndiv

The Silver Star Pfc Miller received is the minimal arward for valor he qualified for. A DSM and DSC are higher. He could easily been given either of these. But, the words "Distringuished Service" may have raised eyebrows and perhaps relegated the Jessica Media Blitz to the 2nd page.

A CMH for Pfc Miller may be a bit high, but so is a Bronze Star with V for Pfc Lynch. A Silver Star is still a serious award for Miller's actions of valor in combat.

Hope Miller gets a promotion (he certainly exhibited some leadership skills to me) and the coveted CIB (Combat Infrantry Badge). He fought with Honor, he surrendered with honor, and conducted himself as a POW with honor. He should be on the recuiting poster for the Army of One. He certainly was that!

[voilsb]

A nomination for a CMH seems more in order.
He might have been nominated for one. And the resulting investigation might have reduced it to a Silver Star. He might have also been nominated for a DSC and had it reduced, too.

But for any real awards in the Army, you never get what you're nominated for. It always gets reduced.

[meathammer]

Thanks for posting. Amazing read!

[Sean Smith]

Army awards are deeply wierd. It is a capricious, flaky process where any of the following can have an influence:

What your superior puts you in for
How good a writer your superior is
If your superior's commander likes him or not
How well your award paperwork is herded through the bureaucracy
What your rank is
How various people interpret the (highly subjective) regulations
If you get to write your own citation
The mean barometric pressure in East Carjackistan

In my experience getting & submitting awards for folks, the Army awards system is totally insane in actual execution. I'm personaly happy that the guy got a Silver Star. Maybe he deserved more, but he could have easily gotten a lot less.

And no CIB for him since he isn't 11-series.

[Mauserlady]

WOW! ! ! ! !

I always knew there had to be more to the story that what was originally being reported.

Fantastic article, thanks for sharing it...

[444]

Interesting.
Note the several references to him using the forward assist which is what kept him in the game. It is common internet "knowlege" by the armchair commandos that you should never use the forward assist and it should have never been put on the weapon to begin with. I was also recently told this in a carbine class by some very noteworthy instructors. "If the round won't chamber, you don't want it to. Something is wrong and hitting the forward assist will only make it worse." Right, something is wrong. You are engaging the enemy and the weapon is full of sand.
I have never been in combat, but was stationed in the desert. I knew the value of the forward assist.

[Bill Hook]

Guess who won't be getting a TV movie deal, a book deal, and an easy out of their term of service? :barf:

When a woman does what Private Miller did, she can have all of the above and more as a credit to her country, gender, uniform, family and self.

[greyhound]

Were any actions taken against whoever pushed the "Pvt. Lynch emptied her M16 at the enemy" story?

[jimpeel]

You mean that there was someone else there at that ambush besides America's new sweetheart?

[AZRickD]

I'm not going to hold Jessica Lynch responsible for the media hysteria that was promoted around her.

On to PFC Miller...

While armed with something akin to a balky single-shot rifle, he engaged the AK-armed enemy from 50 yards away?

"Could you? Would you?" Indeed.

Rick

[IRONFIST]

Does anyone here feel motivated enough by the heroic account above to do something useful for this guy? Like setting up a fund for our good members to donate to so this American hero can do something worthwhile for his family, like fix their old car or take a vacation, or even just have a really nice night out on the town. Totally voluntary, of course and no pressure to give either. I personally would like to have a small way to say "Thanks" for this soldiers actions. If someone here on the Board will set this up, I will start the ball rolling with twenty bucks. This fella deserves to get a reward that he can use and I think that a few hundred dollars would hit the spot. I will pitch in $20... Anyone else?


Michael in Sandy, Oregon/Owner of IronWolf Industries

[jimpeel]

If all the members here could come up with $20 maybe he could afford to replace that POS Cavalier.

Who's going to collect the money and deliver it? Any Coloradans out there? Any who know a bank or banker willing to set up a fund?

Perhaps the Chaplain at Ft. Carson?

[TheeBadOne]

Any who know a bank or banker willing to set up a fund?
That would be the way to go.

[Sergeant Bob]

Bill Hook Guess who won't be getting a TV movie deal, a book deal, and an easy out of their term of service?
I agree the media is making way too much of Jessica Lynch's part in all this but , and that's a big but, I seriously, no, vehemently disagree that she's getting an "easy out".

AZRickD I'm not going to hold Jessica Lynch responsible for the media hysteria that was promoted around her.
Exactly right Rick. AFAIK, Jessica Lynch did nothing to promote the stories the press was telling (of course they would never exaggerate or embellish a story for ratings:rolleyes: ) and I, unlike some, have nothing but respect for her. If she gets a book and movie deal out of it, I don't have a problem with it. It seriously sucks that PFC Miller probably won't get what she does, but I can't hold that against her .

I'm all for taking up a collection for PFC Miller.

[Baba Louie]

Whenever I hear people complain that our nation is going to hades I think about simple Kansas country boys like PFC Miller, who is willing to put in 20 years service, maybe make Warrant, work on Army vehicles doing some welding, some wrenching... able to pick up a rifle and cover his buddies butts when TSHTF... hang tough when captured by really P.O.'d people shouting at him in a different language, singing country songs, talking to God, all the while worrying about his family back home and his friends in his unit... to come home (alive) to his wife and kid... only to spend more time welding and wrenching... cause its his job...

and I think "Its all good."

We're really in pretty good hands.

Now if we could just get all the politicians to go over and serve and have to deal with balky talcum dust filled battle rifles during the fog of war...

Thanks Preacher for sharing.

Here's hoping PFC Miller makes Warrant soon.

Maybe one of THR's aspiring authors could offer to "ghost write" the simple story of PFC Miller for his family's benefit...have Oleg take a photo or two...

Adios

[BB93YJ]

I'll gladly give $20 bucks for this guy, he deserves a lot more...
I'll keep an eye on this thread for when an account is set up, or whatever.

Let's all chip in a little for him.

[Bill Hook]

I agree the media is making way too much of Jessica Lynch's part in all this but , and that's a big but, I seriously, no, vehemently disagree that she's getting an "easy out".

Would they have given a male in her position a discharge?

From what I remember of the story, the Army never gave her a medical discharge, but I could be wrong. It sounded like she and her agents put pressure on the Army to get her out so she could focus on money making opportunities.

[444]

This guy Miller doesn't want a discharge. He probably would fight any attempt to discharge him. He is a lifer and it sounds like this is by far, the best job he has ever had.

[Bill Hook]

Miller may not want the discharge, but if Pvt. Lynch gets one, they should offer him one too. Whether he accepts is his business.

[Sean Smith]

She got a medical discharge as a result of her multiple broken bones and so forth. It helps your arguments if you actually know what you are talking about. ;)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,95852,00.html

Medical discharges are determined by a medical board based on your physical condition, not on how cool you are.

[IRONFIST]

I will attempt to contact the chaplain at Pfc. Millers base tomorrow to see how we can set up a "Thank you, Private Miller" fund to benefit him and his family. I feel that I am the wrong person to actually set this all up though, because between a full-time day job and all the associated hassles of product development for my new business I barely have enough time to kiss my wife goodbye in the mornng. If someone here wants to spearhead the "Thank you, Private Miller" fund, please be my guest and I will forward any information that I get tomorrow, and in the future. It would be nice to funnel all the proceeds into a Paypal account, so that our folks could put a contibution on their credit cards and then we will wait for awhile so that the fund gets to an impressive size. We could then send Private Miller a nice big fat check and a copy of this entire thread so that he can see how much the people on this Forum care, and how we appreciate what he did for his country and fellow soldiers. Just my thoughts on this...


Michael in Sandy, Oregon/Owner of IronWolf Industries

[Taisho]

Now that's a hero. :D
I am in if'n we get a collection up for him and his family.

[hops]

I'd think that Pfc Miller would rather 'earn' his windfall, via a book or some hollyweird tv movie. He seems to be a man of principle.

Yea, Sean, you're right on the voodoo of awarding military awards. While reading "Every Man a Tiger", Clancy with Gen. Horner, there was the case of a USAF F-15 pilot who earned his DFC for ignoring a AWACS' repeated orders to fire at a plane. The plane turned out to be a RSAF Tornado returning from a sortie, upon visual confirmation by the F-15 pilot. Although giving up position on a potental air-to-air encounter behind enemy lines to do a mnaual IFF, is pretty courageous.

[jimpeel]

I agree. Perhaps we should just get a car dealership to kick in part of the cost aof a car to replace his POS Citation.

[papercut]

Hops mentioned:
He should be on the recuiting poster for the Army of One. He certainly was that!

Do note that PFC Miller's deeds are being used by his Colonel to instruct officers. Should be at least a little humbling to some captains and majors.

[Garryowen]

No, they've got no time for glory in the Infantry.
No, they've got no use for praises loudly sung,
But in every soldier's heart in all the Infantry
Shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young.

Shines the name--Rodger Young!
Fought and died for the men he marched among.
To the everlasting glory of the Infantry
Lives the story of Private Rodger Young.


Caught in ambush lay a company of riflemen--
Just grenades against machine guns in the gloom--
Caught in ambush till this one of twenty riflemen
Volunteered, volunteered to meet his doom.


Volunteered, Rodger Young!
Fought and died for the men he marched among.
In the everlasting annals of the Infantry
Glows the last deed of Private Rodger Young.


It was he who drew the fire of the enemy
That a company of men might live to fight;
And before the deadly fire of the enemy
Stood the man, stood the man we hail tonight.


On the island of New Georgia in the Solomons,
Stands a simple wooden cross alone to tell
That beneath the silent coral of the Solomons,
Sleeps a man, sleeps a man remembered well.


Sleeps a man, Rodger Young,
Fought and died for the men he marched among.
In the everlasting spirit of the Infantry
Breathes the spirit of Private Rodger Young.


No, they've got no time for glory in the Infantry,
No, they've got no use for praises loudly sung,
But in every soldier's heart in all the Infantry
Shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young.


Shines the name--Rodger Young!
Fought and died for the men he marched among.
To the everlasting glory of the Infantry
Lives the story of Private Rodger Young.



Frank Loesser

If anyone has any contact info for Millers family, I would like it. While PFC Miller is a member of the Army, he isn't supposed to accept gift and such, but Cavalry Arms would like to see that his boy has a rifle.

To date, Cav Arms has sent $35,000+ in product to soldiers in Afganistan and Iraq. We would be pleased to send a rifle to the miller family...

[IRONFIST]

Update for everyone :


I called the Ft. Carson Command Installation Chaplains office today to see about getting some assistance in setting up a donation fund for Pfc. Miller. I wasn't able to talk to a Chaplain, because they had all headed home early, but I did speak with a civilian assistant in the office. I told her of the plan to get some "Thank you" donations to Pfc. Miller and his family and while she personally liked the idea, she didn't think it was feasible to go thru the Forts Chaplains office. She said that any donations that are sent to their office get distributed equally to the other Faith-based services on base. She echoed Frank Loessers previous thought about whether Pfc. Miller can even personally accept a donation from us. I don't think there is a prohibition from giving funds to his family though. She said that a Bank in the local Ft. Carson area would be a better avenue to approach the issue. So, does anyone on the Board live close enough to go speak with one of the Banks in the area? I am not giving up on the idea of rewarding this brave man. Thanks all...


Michael in Sandy, Oregon/Owner of IronWolf Industries

[tech]

God bless them both, and all the heros we will never hear about.
I am in.

I don't thing Jesica got an "easy out" she will cary this forever.


Mike

[mister2]

Frankly, I was ambushed by this story.

I was expecting to read a technical article on a malfunctioning M-16, instead, I suddenly got thrown into a blood and guts pit that assaulted my imagination, fired up my empathy and made me angry.

The conditions of war are not under anyone's control, not even the combatants'. Somewhere out there, in the desert, is the complete true story of what really happened. Sadly, we are getting the real "truth" in dribs and drabs, and not from the people who are sworn and paid to give it to us. If someone made a mistake and needs to correct it, then as these accounts suggest, a very big injustice needs to be rectified.

I am sure the nation needs its heroes and I feel no antipathy for Pvt. Jessica Lynch, she deserves the accolades of her countrymen. But the others in her unit deserve the same, IF NOT MORE. This is not rocket science. Nor is this something that I have been told by an angel in a dream. Whoever was responsible for the media blitz surrounding the 507, and there are several individuals we're talking about, KNOWS they made a mistake.

So? Where's the public correction, the honor to the truly deserving? The conditions of war are not under anyone's control, but media hype is, and the people who are responsible have chosen to abdicate their duty. And in case you're thinking NBC, ABC and the rest of the alphabet soup, don't forget a BIG part of the hype is controlled by CENTCOM, too.

[jimpeel]

BTT

[w4rma]

Private First Class Patrick Miller sounds like a true American hero. Both Miller and Private First Class Jessica Lynch are both honorable and brave Americans. I have absolutely nothing but respect for Miller and Lynch. The way that the Bush misadministration has mistreated them and others like them who are still in Iraq fighting for America is, IMHO, nothing short of dishonorable and is disrespectful. These heros deserve much better.

Jessica Lynch Says Military Manipulated Her Story
…
PALESTINE, W. Va. -- Former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch has accused the military of using her capture and dramatic nighttime rescue to sway public support for the war in Iraq.Lynch said she's bothered by the military's portrayal of her ordeal in Iraq. She said the U.S. military manipulated the story of her dramatic rescue -- and shouldn't have filmed it in the first place.
…
The 20-year-old private told ABC's Diane Sawyer in a "Primetime" interview to air Tuesday that there was no reason for her rescue from an Iraqi hospital to be filmed.

In an excerpt reported Friday in the New York Daily News, Lynch said, "They used me as a way to symbolize all this stuff. It's wrong."
…
http://www.theomahachannel.com/news/2619087/detail.html

Lynch criticizes military portrayal
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-11-07-lynch-laments_x.htm

Jessica Lynch Criticizes U.S. Accounts of Her Ordeal

In her first public statements since her rescue in Iraq, Jessica Lynch criticized the military for exaggerating accounts of her rescue and re-casting her ordeal as a patriotic fable.

Asked by the ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer if the military's portrayal of the rescue bothered her, Ms. Lynch said: "Yeah, it does. It does that they used me as a way to symbolize all this stuff. Yeah, it's wrong," according to a partial transcript of the interview to be broadcast on Tuesday.
…
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/07/national/07LYNC.html

Corps Voters
…
Discontented enlisted men and women have a separate set of provocations...The war in Iraq is already brutal enough day-to-day: Soldiers spend their days in hundred-plus degree heat, being shot at, peering anxiously into the distance, trying to pick out anyone likely to drive through a barricade with a car stuffed with explosives or whip a rifle out from under his robes and start shooting. They are facing an enemy who is not easily identifiable; when they are too aggressive, they are criticized by the press, and when they are not aggressive enough, they are reprimanded by their superiors, if they don't end up dead. … "They feel overused, and under-appreciated, particularly in the enlisted ranks," Wilson said. Christopher Parker, a former Army captain and a political scientist at the University of California-Santa Barbara, put it to me more bluntly: "What we're seeing now is almost unprecedented, this widespread sense among people in the military that they're being jacked around."

… "There's a sense from everyone I talk to, even down at the unit level, that whoever planned this war simply had no idea what we were getting into," a retired Army captain told me.

Troops have been charged a dollar a minute to call home, newspapers have reported, and soldiers have to buy calling cards from Iraqi kiosks. Tens of thousands of troops have been sent to Iraq with flak jackets from the Vietnam era which, unlike the modern Kevlar, can't stop rounds from the Kalashnikov rifles typically fired by the Iraqi enemy. The Pentagon, looking to trim costs last spring, floated a plan to eliminate the pay benefits soldiers got for serving in so-called "hostile areas"; after a loud outcry from the ranks, they killed the plan. Some injured reservists were billed for food they were served while in the hospital. And veterans' groups are up in arms over the concurrent receipt issue, a military regulation which mandates that no retired soldier receiving his pension from the Department of Defense can also qualify for disability. As veterans' groups have pointed out, retired soldiers (who have more legitimate per capita disability claims than any other group of federal workers) are the only group of employees in the civil service who are barred from drawing simultaneous pensions and disability payments. …
…
… There was great skepticism among many officers that Iraq was the right "next target" in the war on terrorism, and an emerging doubt that Rumsfeld and his lieutenants really knew what they were doing. …

… "What I've seen throughout the officer corps is a real pendulum swing over the last three or four months, from being pro-Bush to anti-Bush," Vandergriff said … Retired Gen. Anthony Zinni … last month called the administration's policy a "brain fart." …
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0311.wallace-wells.html

[jimpeel]

To double-post your double-post -- Miller is a hero; Lynch is an ungrateful Twit.

[semf]

I didn't cry when they shot Ole Yeller, I even snickered at Brian's Song, I watched both my babies be born and never batted an eye. But for some reason this young man's story of honor and humility has me all choked up. Maybe it's because he is what we all aspire to be but very few of us can actually achieve. This guy is really something and I have a feeling he's gonna get what's coming to him. Articles like this are getting the ball rolling. I would be honored to be one of the first to show gratitude. With any luck we can get this thing going by Christmas.

[IRONFIST]

I am glad that this tread got kicked back up to the top, because we are getting closer to being able to do something nice for this soldiers family. My mom has been following this discussion and it turns out that her friend of a friend of a friend works for the VA and thinks that she can can track down the exact address of Millers family, along with contact info. If I can make this happen, I will tell folks where to send their "appreciation" for a job well done by this young hero. Give me some time and I will post updates.

Michael Miller in Sandy, Oregon/Owner of IronWolf Industries

[Barbara]

The young woman was severly injured, held as a prisoner of war, and on top of that was raped and sodomized while serving her country. I gotta say, that's more than I've ever done for my country. More than I'd ever care to, too. How about you?

I understand the complaints about the media circus surrounding her rescue, etc. I also agree that PFC Miller is a hero. But sheesh. She's pretty much being damned if she does and damned if she doesn't here (by a couple of people, anyway).

[Sergeant Bob]

w4rma, is it at all possible for you to reply to any thread without Bush bashing?
I think everyone has figured it out. You don't like Bush.
That's OK, No problem. If you just want to bash Bush, start your own little Bush bashing thread, instead of crapping on everyone elses.

[Barbara]

FTR, I do think heroism should be based on what you do, rather than what is done to you, and its a very reasonable thing to question the difference in treatment of the two soldiers. It was mostly the "ungrateful" thing that annoyed me.

[BigG]

PFC Miller's exploit sounds similar to actions that CPL York and LT Murphy were involved in. Good company, indeed. I'm glad we still have heroes ready to emerge from the wings when the going gets tough!

[Cosmoline]

Keep in mind that Lynch herself had almost nothing to do with any of the mythmaking. The myths were born when she was in the hospital, and she's kept real quiet about the whole thing since then. What cracks me up is how the same media that created the "Saving Pvt. Lynch" legend for its own benefit now makes a big stink about how it's just a myth!! It's surreal--like Dan Rather complaining one night about how Dan Rather had lied to us the night before :D

[w4rma]

Sergeant Bob, big media was used by the Bush misadministration who in turn is trying to pay off big media by relaxing media conglomeration controls through the FCC, among other methods. If folks want to support the Bush misadministration despite this, then that's their own ethics/morals and opinions.

But, I'm not going to sit by while folks smear Lynch (who actually saw battle, was a POW in Iraq and who is trying to set the record straight about what went down there, much to the WH propagandists' disdain) to try to protect the scumball AWOL politician in the White House.

DefenseWatch "The Voice of the Grunt"
08-26-2003
Hack's Target
Using Private Lynch

By David H. Hackworth

Pfc. Jessica Lynch recently was awarded a Bronze Star Medal, a Purple Heart and the POW Medal. The BSM citation reads: “For exemplary courage under fire during combat operations to liberate Iraq, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Private First Class Lynch's bravery and heart persevered while surviving in the ambush and captivity in An Nasiriya.”

A BSM for “bravery” and “surviving in the ambush and captivity”!

The Army's official After-Action Report said she was in a vehicle that crashed while hauling butt trying to escape an enemy ambush. She was knocked unconscious and woke up at a nearby Iraqi hospital receiving special attention from some super-caring Iraqi doctors and nurses.

This was probably the first incident in U.S. military history in which an American soldier was awarded our country’s fourth-highest ground-fighting award for being conked out and off the air throughout a fight.

BSMs citing bravery typically read: “Moving his machine gun to a forward vantage point, he covered the advance of the infantry with a heavy volume of effective fire. Repeatedly exposing himself to a devastating small-arms automatic weapons and mortar barrage …. ” Or: “(He) voluntarily acted as point man and ... when the platoon was fired upon ... charged the (enemy) position .... Through his courage, determination and devotion to duty, he saved his patrol from suffering casualties and captured a prisoner who later provided important information.”

It’s no big surprise that I’ve been bombarded by thousands of angry e-mails from vets protesting this assault on our country’s sacred award system.

“She wasn’t wounded in action, nor did she do anything to deserve a Bronze Star,” writes Arch McNeill. “We have hundreds of valiant soldiers here in the 3rd Division who far more deserve more than she received but in many cases didn’t receive anything.”

“I'm going to send all my awards back to the president and tell him where he can shove them,” says a genuine war hero, Jack Speed, a former Army Raider.

Trust me, the troops – past and present – are unhappy.

So I rang the Pentagon and asked Col. Jeff Keane, “Why the bravery bit?” Finally, when the standard Army propaganda drill wasn’t going down, Keane told me, “It was for her bravery in the hospital.”

But all this flimflam wasn’t Jessica Lynch’s doing. She was used right from the first – a frail prop in the Pentagon’s public-relations campaign to sell the war to the American people and to encourage their daughters to join up and be heroes.

To keep the truth under wraps, the Army concocted another whopper: “She suffers from amnesia.”

A senior officer from V Corps (the unit that eventually awarded her the BSM), who has asked to remain anonymous, comments that there was “tremendous pressure right from the get-go to award Pvt. Lynch a Silver Star. But the high brass here concluded, ‘There was no evidence of heroism on her part,’ and told the pushers to back off.”

But when the propagandists conned the highly respected Washington Post into reporting on how Lynch was shot and stabbed but continued to kill Iraqis until her last round was spent, heroic stuff that would make Audie Murphy look like a slacker – which the Post then took several months to correct – other media were fast to pick up the fairy tale, and the Army was besieged by proud Americans demanding that Jessica be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Of course, many of us now know that a high-priced flack in Tommy Frank’s headquarters came up with this tall tale and then duped the Post.

According to retired Marine Lt. Col. Roger Charles: “There’s nothing they won’t stoop to spin. The Army needed a female hero to boost female recruiting and PR efforts, so they went and invented one.”

And that’s the root of the problem. The elevation of Jessica to Joan of Arc status is to recruit more women, even though thousands of female soldiers couldn’t deploy with their units to Iraq because of pregnancy, no sitters for single moms’ multiple kids and other problems.

And poor Jessica Lynch has become the unwitting poster girl for an Army of One that’s fast becoming an Army of Two – since apparently more than half of the women deployed to Iraq are now pregnant.
http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Hacks%20Target.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=31&rnd=714.3621314009687

[BigG]

Hackworth: ...this assault on our country’s sacred award system.

Methinks he doth protest too much. Everybody who has been thru the quagmire that is the army knows the guy who did the job seldom gets the medal. It's the rear area commander who usually gets the big award while the guy who does the work is lucky to get diddly.

[w4rma]

Everybody who has been thru the quagmire that is the army knows the guy who did the job seldom gets the medal. It's the rear area commander who usually gets the big award while the guy who does the work is lucky to get diddly.And you are happy with this current situation, since you don't seem to be interested in fixing it at all, correct BigG? Anyway, the corrupt award system was only one point that Hackworth made in his editorial.

[Sean Smith]

Why aren't I surprised that w4rma would have to resort to using a literal pimp (Hackworth), in order to turn this topic into a Bush-bashing session? ;)

As reported by that right-wing bastion, Slate :neener: :

http://slate.msn.com/id/2381/sidebar/51012/

Yet, Hackworth concedes most of the Army's allegations, all the while offering self-righteous excuses that don't fit with his haughty denunciation of Boorda. He established the brothel, he says, so that his troops would sleep with disease-free women.

protesting this assault on our country’s sacred award system.

Kind of like his assault on the same system, e.g. by claiming Ranger tabs and so forth that he never earned? :scrutiny:

[BigG]

No, not happy, but recognize BS when I see it.

[w4rma]

Bush bash. Is that all you see? You don't see the problems being caused for Americans? You just see a "Bush bash"?

Where's the BS, BigG? Point it out, specifically. Or is everything that is a "Bush bash" BS, IYO?

Don't criticize the folks running the government as long as the Republican Party is in control, eh?

[GySgt]

Originally posted by Barbara:

"The young woman was severly injured, held as a prisoner of war, and on top of that was raped and sodomized while serving her country."

With all due respect Madam, that's the fault of Femenists and left wing polititians. I'm sorry this happened to her, but she simply should not have been there. Women do not belong in a combat enviornment, period!! They should be safe, back here at home, not in country where these things can happen.

Thank God for brave young men like PFC Miller !!

Semper Fi, GySgt

[Sean Smith]

big media was used by the Bush misadministration who in turn is trying to pay off big media by relaxing media conglomeration controls through the FCC, among other methods. If folks want to support the Bush misadministration despite this, then that's their own ethics/morals and opinions.

Bush bash. Is that all you see?

Reconcile these statements at your leisure. And please, by all means provide links to other pimps you use as "credible" sources. :p

[w4rma]

On sources. IMHO, folks need to be careful about discounting all "news" sources except those that are owned by either Rev. Moon (Washington Times, UPI, Newsmax) or Rupert Murdoch (NY Post, FOX News, The Weekly Standard). Discounting other sources means that *they* decide what "news" you get…and don't get.

Moon Shadow
With Help From Congressional Republicans And The Bush 'Faith-Based' Initiative, Controversial Korean Evangelist Sun Myung Moon Is Trying To Expand His Religious-Political Empire
…
Reading further, they would have found out that the ALC is a project of the American Family Coalition and The Washington Times Foundation – both front organizations for the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, a controversial Korean evangelist and founder of the Unification Church. The "faith-based summit" itself was sponsored by Watts (R-Okla.), Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and other top congressional Republicans, but efforts to promote it at the grassroots level were turned over to a Moon organization.
…
http://www.au.org/churchstate/cs6013.htm

HON. RON PAUL OF TEXAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 10, 2003
Neo – CONNED !
…
In addition to publications, multiple think tanks and projects were created to promote their agenda. A product of the Bradley Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) led the neocon charge, but the real push for war came from the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) another organization helped by the Bradley Foundation. This occurred in 1998 and was chaired by Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol. They urged early on for war against Iraq, but were disappointed with the Clinton administration, which never followed through with its periodic bombings. Obviously, these bombings were motivated more by Clinton’s personal and political problems than a belief in the neocon agenda.
…
The money and views of Rupert Murdoch also played a key role in promoting the neocon views, as well as rallying support by the general population, through his News Corporation, which owns Fox News Network, the New York Post, and Weekly Standard. This powerful and influential media empire did more to galvanize public support for the Iraqi invasion than one might imagine. This facilitated the Rumsfeld/Cheney policy as their plans to attack Iraq came to fruition. It would have been difficult for the neocons to usurp foreign policy from the restraints of Colin Powell’s State Department without the successful agitation of the Rupert Murdoch empire. Max Boot was satisfied, as he explained: “Neoconservatives believe in using American might to promote American ideals abroad.” This attitude is a far cry from the advice of the Founders, who advocated no entangling alliances and neutrality as the proper goal of American foreign policy.
…
http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2003/cr071003.htm

[BigG]

D'oh. You seem to want to create a political football out of this situation w4rma. I thought we were just discussing the BS level of army award citations. Not only that but the (prostitute) news media who is ever willing to create news now is finger pointing that it has been duped? For shame! :rolleyes: And you are indignant that the news lied to you or misinformed you? Call me jaded but I expect them to lie. :uhoh:

[Sean Smith]

IMHO, folks need to be careful about discounting all "news" sources except those that are owned by either Rev. Moon (Washington Times, UPI, Newsmax) or Rupert Murdoch (NY Post, FOX News, The Weekly Standard).

Nice bit of misdirection on your part, except we were talking about your use of literal (not figurative) pimps as sources to "prove" your point. :D

[GySgt]

W4rma,

Geez Anthony, mellow out :):)

By the way, checked out your website and I have to agree with the others, cry wolf in another thread.

Nice callsign though :)

GySgt

[Eyeless]

My bona fides:

I served 9.5 years in the U.S. Army, 1965-1975. I began as an E-1. I left as an 0-3. Direct commission. Two tours, less 10 days, in Nam.

I was Infantry, Field Artillery and Air Defense Artillery (nukes).

I was awarded all the be-there buttons, a CIB, three Purple Hearts, one Bronze Star and one Silver Star.

I was given a medical discharge and am now rated 160% permanent disability through the VA System.

Been there. Done that.


My thoughts:

The Silver Star is nothing to sneeze at. You don't get one for passing gas in a wind storm.

The M-16, in any incarnation, was designed as a jungle weapon. It started out as crap and was modified into a pretty good JUNGLE weapon. It was not intended for desert warfare. Neither was the double stack pistol magazine, but that's a different post (future).

The actions of the young man are commendable, to say the least. He did his job and much more. He earned the medal awarded.

While on active duty, he cannot accept any outside monies for his actions. His family can.

The actions of the young woman are questionable. Her, self stated, actions do not warrant a medal of any sort. What happened to her has become gist for the media and the Army PR machine. This is unfortunate for the Country, for her and for us.

The fact that she is making money off her story does not bother me at all. After all, this is the U. S. of A.

If you disagree with the present leadership of the country, quityerbitchin'. It becomes tiresome.

[w4rma]

If you disagree with the present leadership of the country, quityerbitchin'.“To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
--Theodore Roosevelt, 1918

“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country.”
--Theodore Roosevelt

[Obiwan]

Thanks for the article Peter!

I actually think the whole J.L thing is an obvious offshoot of an over-publicised war. The idea that she had fought back came from intercepted radio transmissions and the media went off the deep end before it could be confirmed.

Then....like always...it is easier to let her stay a heroine than to show eveyone else to be a moron that doesn't check their facts.

A little lag time goes a long way towards accuracy...we didn't have much lag thanks to all the embedded journalists.

So...

Celebrate Pvt. Miller's heroism...that is actually what this thread is about!

Ignore the J.L. B.s...she is not the first overhyped "shooting star"

Stop feeding the media frenzy and she will fade from view.

And stop trying to blame the ills of the whole world on GWB.

Please!

[Correia]

Moderator hat on. If you want to have a thread about the culpability of the Bush administration or the news media or Jessica Lynch, start a new thread.

This one is about Pfc. Miller.

[IRONFIST]

Thank you for intervening in the thread, Correia. I'm usually all for bashing liberals and defending MOST of Bush's actions but this is neither the time or place. People need to put the political infighting aside and remember that Pfc. Millers family could use a nice donation from all of us. In other words, stow the rancor and be thankful we have soldiers like Miller defending us. Thanks...


Michael Miller in Sandy, Oregon/Owner of IronWolf Industries

[hjrocket]

The Distiguished Service Medal is not an award for valor. Army can award (for Valor) in ascending order:, ARCOM w/V, Air Medal, Bronze Star w/V, Distinguished Flying Cross,Silver Star, Distiiguished Service Cross, and Medal of Honor. Other awards are for service ie: JSCM,MSM, Legion of Merit and DSM etc. etc.

[voilsb]

I'm having trouble finding it with google ... does anyone know how I might go about finding the complete text of PFC Miller's Silver Star citation?

[Stealth101]

Whats happening with the fund to help out the Miller family and to say thanks to a real hero? I would like to contribute.......I live in Colorado but a few hours away from the base....

[IRONFIST]

Hey Stealth... You seem to be the closest one here to where Pvt. Millers family is located. Would you be able to get their address so that folks on the forum could get them some funds? I don't want to put you on the spot, but my mom's friend of a friend in the VA has not been able to get any more information and if we had a contact on the ground in Colorado we could get this going soon. Let us know if you are interested in helping...


Michael in Sandy, Oregon/Owner of IronWolf Industries

[Stealth101]

Ironfist....I will do my best tomorrow to see what I can find out!

[jimpeel]

If you get the addy my check will be in the mail.

[IRONFIST]

That would be great Stealth, we all appreciate your effort!


Michael in Sandy, Oregon/Owner of IronWolf Industries

[jimpeel]

Pvt. Miller was on Paula Zahn "Now" tonight and I just saw the "thanks for being here and goodnight" portion of the only replay. I guess ol' Paula isn't all that popular with THRers 'cuz noone here told anyone of this interview, billed as "his first live national interview".

The good news, though, is there is a transcript at: http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0311/17/pzn.00.html and the Miller interview portion of the show is reproduced below.

ZAHN: After the media coverage, TV movie and her new book, millions know the story of Private First-Class Jessica Lynch, but even with her capture and time as a prisoner, and rescue she says she's no hero. She gives that credit to a 23-year-old army mechanic. Army Private First Class Patrick Miller was in Lynch's convoy, took fire, was taken prisoner.

To tell his story, he is here now for his first live national interview. What an honor to meet you. Welcome, private.

PFC. PATRICK MILLER, U.S. ARMY: Thank you.

ZAHN: I wanted to start off by talking about what Jessica Lynch has to say about you. She said, "Patrick is a brave soldier, risking his life as he did to save others. I am proud of his courage." You came tonight with a silver star that you were awarded for your heroism.

MILLER: Yes, ma'am.

ZAHN: How do you view yourself? And actually I would love for you to open it and share it with your audience tonight. That's got to mean an awful lot to you. Hold it up to the camera so we can see.

When you got that, what did it mean to you?

MILLER: I really -- it's nice to be awarded medals and stuff, but for me, I am not -- I didn't join the military to win medals and that kind of stuff. I joined to -- because that's what I wanted to do at the time.

ZAHN: And you certainly did your job that night. It is true that during this whole encounter, eight Iraqis were shot. You admit you weren't much of a marksman, in fact, you had a jammed weapon that night.

MILLER: Yes.

ZAHN: How did you survive?

MILLER: There's a forward assist that pushes the bolt forward. My round, it would fire, but -- and it would eject the casing, but it wouldn't push the next round all the way into the chamber, so I had to push on the forward-assist to get the bolt to push the round all the way into the chamber.

ZAHN: And once you survived that, of course you were captured, taken prisoner, and I understand you did just about anything you could do to drive your captors nuts.

What did you do?

MILLER: A little bit of everything. When they first captured me, they found my can of chew and tobacco, and asked me what it was, and I guess they don't have chewing tobacco over there, so I told them it was candy.

ZAHN: Did any of them try it?

MILLER: Yes, a couple tried it.

ZAHN: Did they get sick.

MILLER: Ended up throwing up, seeing their breakfast again.

ZAHN: That must have delighted you.

MILLER: I was trying not to laugh too much, because it was just -- I didn't know what would happen if I started laughing at them for throwing up.

ZAHN: Don't you feel you are lucky to be alive and the fact that you could at a point where your life was at risk, and you could have died at any moment that you could laugh at a little trick you pulled.

MILLER: You -- it was one of them deals you had to laugh inside. You couldn't really laugh like at them, because you didn't know what they would do and that kind of stuff. And it was that then the radio frequencies that were in my Kevlar, I told them they were prices for power steering pumps.

ZAHN: And they believed it?

MILLER: They believed it and threw them in the fire, the little fire they had going.

ZAHN: They were pretty stupid, weren't they?

MILLER: Apparently.

ZAHN: Well, you were lucky that they weren't swifter than that. Private Miller, we really salute your bravery and we're delighted to honor your heroism this evening. Good luck to you.

MILLER: Thank you.

ZAHN: Thanks for sharing your story.

[Sergeant Bob]

MILLER: A little bit of everything. When they first captured me, they found my can of chew and tobacco, and asked me what it was, and I guess they don't have chewing tobacco over there, so I told them it was candy.
Is this guy cool under fire or what!!!???? This guy is great!!

MILLER: There's a forward assist that pushes the bolt forward. My round, it would fire, but -- and it would eject the casing, but it wouldn't push the next round all the way into the chamber, so I had to push on the forward-assist to get the bolt to push the round all the way into the chamber.
How many times have we heard that the forward assist was useless and would only worsen a problem?

[ojibweindian]

Chewing tobacco as candy :D

Man, that's priceless!

[Stealth101]

Hey everyone.....called Fort Carson today to try and locate Miller......they have a number for the post locator, that helps you locate personnel on base.... they gave me the number for PFC Patrick Miller .....but I havent been able to raise a soul on that number....so I will try tomorrow to talk with someone to try and get his contact info so we all can bless him and his family! Lets get this goin....this guy deserves our gratitude!

[jimpeel]

From where does Paula Zahn do her show; NYC? He was on her show yesterday so he is very likely in NYC. The army will likely tour him about telling his story now that he has the blessing of Queen Jessica.

[semf]

where are we on the fund

[jimpeel]

Where IS the fund? I thought we were going to get an addy to send money to the soldier directly. Any changes on that?

Stealth? You out there?

[semf]

I can e-mail his congressman who has contact with the family if anyone thinks that would be a good idea.http://www.house.gov/tiahrt/email.htm

[jimpeel]

Anything we can get, let's do. If we wait until this is off the front burner, and those willing to help him become apathetic from growing disinterest, he will get nothing.

[Stealth101]

The last time I called a few days ago I didnt get through....I didnt feel it was appropriate to call on the holidays, so I thought I would try in a few days, and I will let you know if I have any luck getting through to him!
Thanks
Stealth101

[IRONFIST]

I have tried a couple of times as well. I will keep hitting it, but contacting the Congree critter can't hurt. Post whatever you find out, on this thread to kick it back up to the top. Thank you!


Michael in Sandy, Oregon/Owner of IronWolf Industries

[semf]

I e-mailed the congressman and gave him a link to this thread so he would know it was a legit request. Hope fully we should hear something next week.

[jimpeel]

BTT because inquiring minds want to know.

Any luck on an addy for this guy?

[IRONFIST]

Hello Jim, I have been trying what we think is the home phone #, but there hasn't been any answer. I will still keep trying.

[jimpeel]

Thanks. I'll wait for the next BTT on this thread.

I used to live in Colorado Springs and may be able to elicit some help from a friend down there.

[jimpeel]

BTT

So what in the Hell ever happened on this one?

[HunterGatherer]

Ended up throwing up, seeing their breakfast again. LMAO What a cool kid!

100% hero in my book.

[IRONFIST]

While I still want to do something for the guy, I cannot seem to get ahold of him. The different phone numbers I have been given lead nowhere. I am pretty darn frustrated about the whole thing.

[wingman]

I'm not going to hold Jessica Lynch responsible for the media hysteria that was promoted around her.

Nor I, but I would have a tough time accepting such hype myself.:(

I have found thoughout my life you want the unassuming guy like Miller
beside you.!!

[LoneStranger]

The question Wingman is, What do you do keep from having the type of attention forced on Lynch from being forced on you in a similiar situation?

In the one interview that I saw she responded that she was only a soldier doing her duty. In that she showed more integrity than many of the media/politico types who were involved with the whole episode.

It pleases me that Miller also shows Jayhawker class in his response to questions about Lynch.