IEDs and Jessica Lynch

I went to a class on IEDs today, taught by a Sgt who was on a UXO team in Iraq, and who recently left to come teach the class. Very good class. Saw several videos of IED exploding, and learned about various techniques to deal with them. One point; if we see an Arab camera team filming a convoy, prepare for an IED or other attack becaue the camera crew was probably tipped off to the attack. Also, arrest the crew. Saw a video taken by a soldier, just filming as drove along. Passed a car, and boom. The soldiers were in an armored HUMMV, so only minor injuries. Unfortunately, the 3 Iraqi children walking along the road by the car bomb weren't so lucky.

Since I've been deployed, 6 months now, I have heard many, dozens, of mentions of Jessica Lynch and the 507th Maint Co. Invariably, these mentions are negative. The "Fightin' 507th" has become a poster child of screw ups, to soldiers. They got lost, they didn't have commo, they got separated, and they didn't maintain their weapons. The usual reference is "You don't want to be like the 507th." The media story was that due to dust and sand the weapons jammed. Well, sure, but not because of just one road trip. Almost certainly those mechanics were not maintaining their weapons. The 507th came up again today as an example of how not to be. Ironic that most of the public has a favorable impression of them as "heroes." Soldiers think of them as dumb-asses.