Female POW

[rayrey10]

I didn't know that there were other female POWs captured with Jessica Lynn in Iraq.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_pow_memoir

[Bjoern]

Report on the action:
http://www.army.mil/features/507thma...7MaintCmpy.pdf

Geez, what a mess that was.

[MaddogK]

Just wait till the openly gay personnel start getting captured. Thats gonna be a mess.

[djscoo]

Just wait till the openly gay personnel start getting captured. Thats gonna be a mess.

Attachment 28994

[Allen]

← IS NOT TOUCHING THIS ONE!

[TeaSea]

Report on the action:
http://www.army.mil/features/507thma...7MaintCmpy.pdf

Geez, what a mess that was.

Most action is a mess...it's only in the movies where it looks clear cut. All those nice camera angles and wide shots.

Reality is confusion, fatigue, fear and anger, all rolled into one big happy package.

I will note that the 507th really wasn't a unit anymore when it's folks were taken prisoner. I note that because since the Korean War, no U.S. Army unit has surrendered. Individuals (what the 507th had become) have been taken prisoner, but no unit has surrendered.

Part of it is because most of the guys we fight don't take prisoners.

[Ken Stallings]

Much is made that they took one wrong turn in the dark. But, there was just as much a chance that they would have followed the surveyed route and ran into the same trouble. In war, it happens.

Cheers,

Ken

[Bjoern]

Just wait till the openly gay personnel start getting captured. Thats gonna be a mess.

WTF?

Most action is a mess...it's only in the movies where it looks clear cut. All those nice camera angles and wide shots.

Reading that report seemed to make it even more of a mess than the mess a war already is.

And theatrical depictions of conflicts are...well...a bit overdramatized nonetheless?

Reality is confusion, fatigue, fear and anger, all rolled into one big happy package.

I know that too, but despite all fatigue, stress and fear, why didn't anyone double and triple check their positions?

[Ken Stallings]

And theatrical depictions of conflicts are...well...a bit overdramatized nonetheless?

Not sure I understand your point. If you mean they tend to compress the firefights and leave out the more mundane daily facts, then I agree. But, if you mean movies tend to overdramatize the firefights, then I totally disagree!

In fact, movies tend to under-dramatize the actual firefights. Based upon my personal experiences, I thought the recent movies, "Stop Loss," and "Hurt Locker" were both very accurate in depicting the firefights of this current war. I also think the HBO mini-series, "Generation Kill," was outstanding in depicting the experiences of grunts in the OIF invasion.

Ken

[Bjoern]

I also think the HBO mini-series, "Generation Kill," was outstanding in depicting the experiences of grunts in the OIF invasion.

GK is an awesome series. Gotta love Ray!

Well, the depiction of firefights in there seems to be pretty accurate as well, but stuff like Black Hawk Down was what I was on about with that "overdramatized" thing.

[Ken Stallings]

Yeah, in the sense they used a lot of pyrotechnics for dramatic effect, I totally agree.

In terms of the story, the movie was painstakingly accurate.

As an aside, I worked a few times with Michael Durant. Got a signed copy of his book on my bookshelf. Very nice man, very humble, and lives his life consistent with the awareness he's alive today because two other men died to keep him alive. His book adds some details he chose to keep quiet when the author wrote the Blackhawk Down book.

I cannot imagine what it must be to reach that understanding.

Ken

[Eoraptor1]

GK is an awesome series. Gotta love Ray!

Well, the depiction of firefights in there seems to be pretty accurate as well, but stuff like Black Hawk Down was what I was on about with that "overdramatized" thing.

Bjoern,

If you haven't read the book, Black Hawk Down, I recommend it. Also, if you rent The Hurt Locker on DVD or BluRay, in the Derector's Commentary they go on at length about the difference between real explosions and Hollywood explosions. There's also a good deal of discussion as to what shock waves do to the human body.

JAMES

[wombat666]

Just wait till the openly gay personnel start getting captured. Thats gonna be a mess.

Be very careful on broaching that subject.

[Ken Stallings]

I would offer a similar expression of concern. And that be that people reserve judgement until such time as they clearly understand the intent offered in the words. The mistake too many in society today make is that they associate mere words as touchstones without taking the time to fairly ascertain the intentions of the words.

It's a bit like hearing the word dam versus hearing the word damn. To a third party operating devoid knowledge of the intent and context, it might be confused as profanity, while the engineer looks in amazement why someone scolded him from speaking profanity when he was speaking about a multi-billion dollar project to create a man-made lake!

Cheers,

Ken

[MaddogK]

Be very careful on broaching that subject.

Yes, I had forgotten for a sec how utterly suffocating the PCness is on this forum. Sadly I can't delete the post now, so just ignore it.