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Monday, April 1, 2013

Jessica Lynch: Iraq still haunts my dreams 10 years after rescue

Former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch reflects on the decade since her rescue in Iraq, saying she still has nightmares about her ordeal and revealing she feels "the most pride" about being a mother.
By Scott Stump, TODAY contributor
Ten years after her dramatic rescue as a prisoner of war in Iraq made headlines, Jessica Lynch continues to persevere in the face of injuries and survivor’s guilt related to her ordeal.

“About every night I have some kind of dream where there’s someone chasing me,’’ she told TODAY’s Janet Shamlian on Monday. “It’s hard. It really is mentally and physically draining. I’m very blessed and happy to be here, and I think that’s what counts the most, and if I tell myself that I’m OK, I eventually I start (thinking), ‘You know what? I can do this.’’’

Lynch, now 29, became a household name in 2003 when she became the first American POW to be rescued since the Vietnam War. The Army private and her 507th Maintenance Company were ambushed in Nasiriya only days into the Iraq War, and she was captured and held by Iraqi soldiers at a hospital there before being rescued by U.S. Special Forces troops who stormed the facility. Lynch is now a mother, teacher and motivational speaker in her hometown of Charleston, W.V., and is working on a master’s degree.

“Every day I wake up, I have that ‘never give up’ attitude,’’ she told Savannah Guthrie on TODAY Monday. “As much as I have the up and down days, it doesn’t matter as long as you keep it in your mind that you can do anything, that’s what it’s all about is perseverance.’’

Lynch suffered several broken bones during her capture and has undergone countless hours of physical rehabilitation for her legs and arms. She has had 21 surgeries since her rescue and told Guthrie she still wears a brace on her left leg and experiences pain in her right foot.

“I do the best that I can, and I’m just thankful that I’m here,’’ she told Guthrie.


REUTERS file
Undated footage from a combat camera video shows U.S. PFC Jessica Lynch on a stretcher during her rescue from Iraq.

In the aftermath of her rescue, there were numerous extravagant media reports that painted her as a hero and had incorrect details of her capture and rescue. She worked to set the record straight, testifying before Congress that she never fired her weapon during the firefight because her M-16 rifle jammed and that she was knocked unconscious when her vehicle flipped.

“I know that there was a lot of fabricated, misconstrued stories, but I did what I had to do,’’ Lynch told Guthrie. “I came out and tried to tell the world what really happened. I set the record straight as much as I can and what people still want to believe or not believe, that’s on them, but I felt it was important to just let the truth be known. I did Congress and testified to really just let everyone know none of this happened, this is the real story.’’

Lynch has also dealt with the survivor’s guilt. During the 90-minute firefight in Nasiriya in which she was captured, 11 members of her company were killed. One of them was her best friend, Lori Piestewa, who was taken to the Iraqi hospital with Lynch after being captured and died on the bed next to her.

“It’s so hard to continue every day knowing that Lori didn’t make it home with me,’’ Lynch said. “The reason that she went over there was to be with me and our other comrades, and sadly she didn’t get to come back home, so (I’m) just having to deal with the fact that my best friend didn’t get to come back and I did. She had two beautiful kids. It’s just really hard to know they’re going to have to grow up without their mom.’’

Fortunately for Lynch, it was not long before she had a couple of new loves in her life – first a new fiancé, Wes Robinson, and on Jan. 9, 2007, a 7-pound, 10-ounce baby girl.

The couple named the baby Dakota Ann in honor of Army Spc. Lori Piestewa, Lynch’s tentmate and former Fort Bliss roommate, who was killed in the attack that injured Lynch. Ann was Piestewa’s middle name and Dakota came from the fact that Piestewa was part Native American.


Bob Bird/AP file
Jessica Lynch with her
daughter Dakota following
the South Charleston,Va.
Christmas Parade on
Dec. 10, 2011.


“There I’m not Jessica Lynch, I’m not prisoner of war Jessica Lynch, I’m Dakota’s mommy,’’ she told Shamlian.

Now that it’s been a decade since the ordeal that has become part of her story, Lynch is looking to move forward with her life.
“I’m kind of happy that we’re finally to this 10-year mark so that I can finally put Iraq in the past,’’ she told Guthrie. “I know that it will always be with me. It’s nice to make that mark of  ‘I’ve made it this far.’

It’s always going to be with my life, waking up every day and dealing with the injuries. I go on and I strive and I do the best that I can.’’

THEN
On March 23, 2003, just three days after the start of the invasion of Iraq, a U.S. Army supply convoy took a wrong turn and was attacked in Nasiriyah, a key town on the road to Baghdad. Eleven U.S. soldiers were killed and six captured, including Private First Class Jessica Lynch, a 19-year-old from West Virginia. She suffered spinal fractures, nerve damage and a shattered right arm, right foot and left leg when her Humvee crashed.

IRAQ TEN YEARS LATER: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
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