Jessica Lynch Was Not Prepared for Combat

StrategyPage.com ^ | August 18, 2003 | Brant Guillory

[John Jorsett]

The mass media's excessive fawning over Jessica Lynch and the other POW's from the second Gulf War is starting to have an effect on other soldiers, particularly those in the combat arms (infantry, armor, artillery, cavalry).

Maintenance units, and other combat support units, such as the one ambushed by the Iraqis when Lynch and the others were captured, are notorious for their poor soldier skills, such as weapons maintenance, map reading, fire discipline, and 'combat driving.' The main reason these skills are not as well-developed in these support units is that for years the attitude of the soldiers has been that MOS skills (those relating specifically to the soldier's specialty) are the priority, and so long as a soldier is good at ordering spare parts, or repairing generators, or processing paperwork, or issuing fuel, then the soldier skills (or lack thereof) can be overlooked. Weapons are only taken out of the arms room when it's time to qualify (once or twice a year) and land navigation is studied right before leaving for an NCO school, but rarely, if ever, bothered with again.

Combat soldiers, especially infantrymen, know that weapons maintenance is something that can save your life, and land navigation is something that's done every time the go to the field. What has the combat troops rankled about the now-infamous ambush is that all of the combat troops know units just like that one. They're always the ones that tie up the post roads trying to make 38 u-turns because the commander missed his turn reading the map upside down. They're the ones that take two days to zero their M16s (never mind trying to qualify) because the PMI never covered adjusting the height of the rear sight. And after they pull the same stunts in a combat zone, get a dozen troops killed and block a primary highway for a day while diverting other units to bail them out, the media kisses their fannies and offers millions for their made-for-TV movies.

There are no such offers for the 3d Infantry division, whose cavalry squadron led the charge across Iraq and fought in the few battles that actually took place on the road to Baghdad. No one wants to make a movie of 3-15 Infantry, the task force that was brought daily into everyone's living rooms by David Blume before his tragic death.

Instead, what the combat soldiers see is a screwed-up unit that got a lot of soldiers killed and is now lionized for oft-repeated mistakes.

[cherry]

Why take another swing at Jessica Lynch?.....the headline could have easily had read just "Soldiers" not prepared .....

[JeeperFreeper]

Not in the Marine Corps.

[WestPacSailor]

Pinko commie media bias strikes again. How 'bout a headline stating "Soldiers doing their duty and carrying out their assigned mission". If we point out the unit's faults it makes much better press than if we point out a unit's strengths.

[wideawake]

For all they know, Lynch could have been well-qualified and exemplary in her "soldier skills."

[oyez]

The Marine Corps used to take a different approach. Mess cooks, aircraft mechanics and even office pouges were combat ready before any thing else. Did the Army figure that any of their personel could find themselves in a combat situation?

[American Soldier]

It is one thing if the combat arms types want to bag on support types for being closer to the rear with more comfortable accomodations -- this is often the case, and I have to make some allowances for the boys who spend the most time up front and statistically get killed and wounded the most often.

However, any complaints about the combat unreadiness of those in support MOSs ought in the end to be directed towards maneuver unit commanders, who are ultimately responsible.

Even if you are in a support unit of some sort, the Army's commanders are still combat arms types. Either your batallion, brigade, division or corps commander will be an Armor/Infantry/Artillery type. It is these men who have cheated the support units by treating them only as "our mechanics" or "our IT department" or the "our finance gurus" while forgetting they must train as soldiers too. The typical support unit spends a full workweek just trying to accomplish its real world mission keeping the combat arms types running. It is ultimately the responsibility of the Armor/Infantry/Artillery branched officers at the top to make sure these support soldiers are given the resources and more imporantly the TIME to train as warriors.

[mystery-ak]

BS....all soldiers go to basic where they learn these skills...

[thulldud]

It's not a swing at Lynch per se, it's a complaint first about the media with their transparent agenda, and second about the Pentagon brass with one of their own -- neither of which bear any connection to the one you thought you paid your taxes for. You know, "winning" the war?

"Winning" in quotes according to standard liberal usage. Your mileage may vary. Void where prohibited, taxed, or otherwise regulated by law. Use no hooks. Results atypical. Professional drivers--do not attempt to duplicate stunts. Thank you for playing.

[WestPacSailor]

Mess cooks, aircraft mechanics and even office pouges were combat ready before any thing else

A reporter once asked Ted Williams (warrior, baseball player, American) what he did in the Marine Corps. His reply: "I'm a rifleman currently assigned to fly fighter jets"

[onedoug]

"Hell, General, I'm a cook!"

[D. Brian Carter]

I enter Army BCT in under two months. Even though it is very, very highly unlikely I will ever see combat (or even leave the US, for that matter), I take my role as a Soldier very seriously, even if my job will keep me far from the front lines.

It is my understanding that I am a Soldier FIRST, and even if I spend most of my time and energy on my job, that is secondary to keeping my Soldiering skills up to speed. I look forward to having, and retaining, excellent marksmanship skills, superior land navigation capabilities, in being and staying in tip-top shape, and being absolutely prepared for anything and everything. Anything less would be unprofessional, and would, in my opinion, be quite disrespectful to the guys up front who put it on the line day after day.

It's a shame that this isn't SOP in the Army... I thought everyone was trained to be a Soldier FIRST, and always to conduct themselves in that manner.

[gr8eman]

The real problem is lack of leadership. I was at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait as a civilian and it didn't take long for me to understand why my father told me to never join the Army. I won't mention the unit, and not to denigrate the whole service, but it was the most unprofessional outfit I ever had the displeasure to encounter...to put it mildly. I am surprised more incidents like this didn't happen!

[kjam22]

I've thought from the beginning that one of the women in Jessica's group was reading the map. :)

[StatesEnemy]

Ehh... those rear echelon pukes used to ALWAYS have 20%+ dropouts in the post runs at Campbell...

If an 11B dropped out, it was extra PT for a month.

[jjm2111]

Excellent Article, but with flaws.

Support units have their own mission; (i.e. support combat units) and their mission takes up the bulk of their time. Add to this the mountain of paperwork that is fostered on any unit and there is little wonder that weapons and tactical training is often overlooked. Given the bell-curve of aptitude personnel in the non-combat units, commanders and officers probably spend the most amount of time making sure people know how to perform their primary mission.

In the reserves, it is much, much worse. Officers and NCOs waste drill times doing paperwork and following up with do-nothing headquarters types. Requests that should take a week take months. Budetary considerations only exacerbate this problem.

My opinion is that it is up to unit commanders to make sure their units get more weapons familiarity training. Not just annual quals. Unfortunately some officers just want to ticket punch and only care about their own careers.

[jjm2111]

That's what I like best about the Corp. Every man (and woman) is a rifleman. In the Navy it's like, "What do you mean you want to issue QM2 Umptyclump a weapon, he's only an E-5?????"

[mac_truck]

I'm not a fan of women serving in forward units, period. How about you?

[lilylangtree]

The kid was 18 years old and in Supply. They're not frontline soldiers. While she had training, people in her field aren't suppose to be stopping bullets.

Hopefully my next statement won't offend but a combat soldier is similar to parenting--strictly on the job training is the best experience that human beings receive. Book learning will only go so far. OJT fills in the rest. And then, due to ever dynamic situations, nothing will flow fluidly.

[jjm2111]

"BS....all soldiers go to basic where they learn these skills... "

And what they don't practice, they forget.