Not Just a War Tale
I Am a Soldier Too: The Jessica Lynch Story by Rick Bragg
Jessica Lynch has been the "face" of the war on terror. Reports came out that she fought like a wildcat and was a hero. Then, the media backtracked but didn't really say a lot about the circumstances. Some critics claimed that Jessica did not "deserve" the hero treatment and the medals. Her hometown gave her a huge welcome home parade and did encourage her hero label.
I had noted the stories on Jessica, but I really didn't know a whole lot other than seeing a few pieces here and there on television. I was curious to read the book and see how Jessica would tell her own story and how she felt about all the media attention — both good and bad.
Rick Bragg wrote I Am a Soldier, Too — The Jessica Lynch Story. He is one of my favorite writers of all times, and he comes from a rural background similar to Jessica's. I can't think of anyone more suited to dig in and find out the heart of a story and especially one with small town roots. It wouldn't have mattered what project Bragg worked on, I would have bought the book, but I was excited that he selected this story to tell.
This story is not just a war tale. It drops back and let's the reader see Jessica as the rather prissy kid who loved to paint her nails and who made County Fair Queen. It talks about her dream to become a kindergarten teacher and talks about how she saw the military as a way to earn money to get a chance to do more than marry and raise kids. This is the reality for lots of rural boys and girls, and the book talks about the area and about the people who end up in the armed forces, because that's really the only way they can get out and travel and get some education.
Jessica did not sign up to be a Green Beret. She was a clerk and would hand out supplies like toilet paper and pens. Going to a war zone was a "stretch" for an 18-year-old who weighed 100 pounds. But, she shouldn't have seen any hand-to-hand combat. The person in charge missed a turn and landed the group in the middle of hostile territory where this group of behind-the-scenes personnel were faced with bullets flying and enemy soldiers stomping them to death. Very few made it out alive. Jessica is one who did live to tell the story, and the media loved the way she looked and sounded in print and on the little screen. She became the voice of this moment in history.
I won't give the details and ruin the story, but I will say that I consider Jessica a hero. She does not. She makes that clear in this book. She was just a kid who wanted a different and better life and thought the military would give her more options. She did not want to be in the middle of a war and did not want to come home to a house that no longer even looked like home after all the friends and neighbors reworked the little mountain cottage and turned it into a two-story dream house.
When I mentioned this book to a couple of guys who fought in the war, they were angry and did not want to talk about Jessica Lynch. They felt that she "gained" from being over there and from getting shot up. I'm sure that she would give back every bit of attention and every cent donated to help her to be able to use the bathroom again. She does not have control over her bowels. I'm sure she would love to go back to her county fair and not get stopped outside by so many people wanting autographs that she never even gets inside to the normal part with the food and rides.
All this hoopla about Jessica was created by the media. They saw a "story." I think this book is an attempt to set the record straight now that Jessica is physically able to sit down and talk. Rick Bragg did a good job of capturing real people with real feelings. You'll walk away from the book knowing that her family is like so many others — proud that Jessica went and served but wishing that she had not gone and been shattered literally. They would change it all if they could turn back the clock and so would Jessica. She is a hero for surviving and for doing what she had to do after signing up for something that she didn't understand and probably never will. It's just a shame she couldn't have been a hero on her own terms and as a teacher of little kids like she dreamed about. Perhaps she can buy the extras to make her life a little better and can go back to school some day with profits on this book. I hope so. I don't envy her moments in the spotlight or the mountains of letters and stuffed animals. I don't think anyone else would if they would read the book and give her a chance.
