A female Special Forces soldier wounded in hand to hand combat?
Anyone read this editorial yet? It turned me off in the first 3 paragraphs. I cannot understand how a news producer for a major media outlet would editorialize without having any of the pertanant information! I also feel inclined to question this Staff Sgt's integrity given some of the comments accredited to her. She has taken the sacrifices she has made and ruined the validity of her story.
http://fieldnotes.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/01/1476046.aspx
Jack Moroney (RIP)
10-02-2008, 05:18
There is not enough in the article to really draw many conclusions. She could very well have been part of a CA, PSYOP or MI element in support of SF operations and in fact a legitimate member of SOF. Can't say much more than that but good on her for her service and hope she recovers as well as she can. The only thing that really bothers me about the story is the crap that the reporter is building in to indicate that a mother of 3 went to war and got injured and now has a hard time being a Mom and a provider. So what the hell is her husband doing and if being a Mom is so important than why put all that at risk by serving in a risky profession. It is all about choice and dealing with the reality of risk and consequences of choice. Not saying she should not have served, just saying that reality is often a hard task master.
My take is the same as Col Jack. She was probably working in a SOF unit CA/PSYOPS/etc and was hurt. The reporter did not do a very good job of writing the story, but today I think that reporters have lost their way and do not care about a good story only one that plays to the tgt audience that their editors want.
Just my 2 cents
That same reporter would be the first one to jump on the ACLU bandwagon too hoot and holler about letting women serve in combat roles.
SSG Harrilson was not drafted, and I would bet my portion of the bailout that she got to pick her job when she enlisted.
Her service is every bit as important as anyone else, it just burns my ass when articles like this try to turn a soldier into a poster child for the anti-war crowd.
greenberetTFS
10-03-2008, 09:32
My take is the same as Col Jack. She was probably working in a SOF unit CA/PSYOPS/etc and was hurt. The reporter did not do a very good job of writing the story, but today I think that reporters have lost their way and do not care about a good story only one that plays to the tgt audience that their editors want.
Just my 2 cents
I have to go along with the guys on this one....The reporter is the one that's putting the spin on this story. :rolleyes:
GB TFS :munchin
AngelsSix
10-12-2008, 19:59
I am NOT believing that garbage for a minute, but it makes a great story for the media. 2004?? Someone should check the facts of this individual's story.
Red Flag 1
10-12-2008, 20:30
I thank Ssgt Harrilson for her service and dedication to duty. I wish her well in her recovery from her wounds, and in all she may face.
The worry here, IMHO, is that Rutherford is an National Barrack Channel reporter. There is no telling where this story will lead as it is turned into a tool for BHO. I sincerely hope this story is for the good of Ssgt. Harrilson and her family !
My $.02......
RF 1
AngelsSix
10-13-2008, 17:13
After a search of yahoo and google, this is the only news story that I could find mentioning anything about the story. I don't want to say anything bad, but I am still getting a weird feeling about the whole story. I do know that the story behind the reason she is at Walter Reed is because during an attack, some body armor fell off a hook and hit her in the head, causing a "brain injury". I have my feelings about his whole thing, I shall keep them to myself.
Fallen but not forgotten: A tale of two wars
Posted: Wednesday, October 01, 2008 7:53 PM by Daily Nightly Contributor
Filed Under: John Rutherford By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
Iraq and Afghanistan don't look very far apart on a map, but they appear worlds apart when it comes to the success of the U.S. war effort in those two countries.
Each month, I interview soldiers receiving Purple Hearts at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and invariably they tell me the war is going well in Iraq and badly in Afghanistan. Last Friday was no exception.
"There was a lot of progress made in my area of East Baghdad east of Sadr City," Army Sgt. Brian Scott, 28, of Boston, Mass., told me. "It was going very well."
Scott, who was wounded Aug. 28 by a roadside bomb, worked with the Iraqi police forces.
"Progress has been made with the Iraqi police over time," he said. "I noticed it personally working with them and going on patrols with them and talking to the people that were feeling more comfortable coming and talking to the Iraqi police about regular crimes that happened in the streets and neighborhoods of their area."
Afghanistan is a different story, according to two soldiers who were wounded there.
"I think it's just gradually getting worse over time," said Army Staff Sgt. Tara Harrilson, 27, of Gaithersburg, Md., who was wounded three times in Afghanistan.
"We need more troops there," she said. "I mean, my common sense tells me that if every month for years you're losing more and more people or more and more are getting hurt, then something's not right and I would imagine that would be the number of soldiers you have there."
Army Cmd. Sgt. Maj. Michael Campbell, 41, of Keno, Ore., agreed with Harrilson about the need for more troops in Afghanistan. Campbell, who was wounded Aug. 18 by a roadside bomb, said the U.S. needs to take those additional troops and do in Afghanistan what it's been doing in Iraq.
"In Iraq, we took American forces and we actually cleared everything out and sustained some security, and then we trained the Iraqi forces to take over the security, and that's why we're successful in Iraq," he said. "In Afghanistan, we haven't taken the American forces and completely cleared it, built the security, built the national forces, and that's what we need to do."
Even if more troops are deployed to Afghanistan, Campbell said it's going to take awhile to turn the war around.
"It's probably going to take another five to 10 years to get it up to where it needs to be," he said. "That would be my guess."
Currently there are 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and 32,000 in Afghanistan. President Bush has announced plans to bring 8,000 troops home from Iraq and add 5,000 in Afghanistan.
(Photos by Louie Palu/ZUMA Press)
Click here to view tributes to the 401 service members killed this year in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the following five casualties from last week:
1. Army Sgt. Matthew Taylor, 25, of Charleston, S.C.
2. Army 1st Lt. Thomas Brown, 26, of Burke, Va.
3. Army Capt. Michael Medders, 25, of Avon Lake, Ohio.
4. Army Staff Sgt. Ronald Phillips Jr., 33, of Conway, S.C.
5. Army Pfc. Jamel Bryant, 22, of Belleville, Ill.
Washington Producer John Rutherford is a decorated Vietnam veteran. He also posts stories on the military at www.fieldnotes.msnbc.com (click on "John Rutherford" under "categories") and at http://john-rutherford.newsvine.com. The tribute gallery can be found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22802019/.