Shoshana Johnson.......

[sarettah]

http://www.intellectualconservative.com/ar...rticle2798.html

On Shoshana Johnson, Jessica Lynch and Disability
by Brian S. Wise
28 October 2003

Shoshana Johnson and Jessica Lynch were wounded in the exact same battle; why is one getting more in disability than the other?

“Shot through both legs and held prisoner in Iraq for 22 days, [Army Specialist] Shoshana Johnson returned home in the spring to a difficult convalescence that lacked the media fury and official hype that attended her friend and comrade in arms, Jessica Lynch,” reported the Washington Post last Friday. A regrettable circumstance of a regrettable incident, the 507th Maintenance Company’s wandering off course in Nasiriyah and being ambushed last March twenty-third. “Depressed, scared, haunted by the trauma of her captivity and at times unable to sleep, Johnson walks with a limp and has difficulty standing for long, according to her parents.” Also most regrettable.

“And now that Johnson is on the verge of her discharge from the Army, insult is being added to her injury, [the Johnsons] say. While Lynch was discharged as a private first class in August with an 80 percent disability benefit, Johnson, set to leave in the coming days, learned last week that she will receive a 30 percent disability benefit for the Army for her injuries.” The difference is palpable, but not merely financial. It’s true Lynch’s monthly disability will exceed Johnson’s by as much as $700, but put the money aside for a moment and think about what it means, ideologically, when a soldier who was practically sitting next to an eventual media darling at the time of the ambush cannot merit the same consideration as the current day celebrity.

We cannot say whether Shoshana Johnson wanted or expected the media fury that enveloped Lynch, or even a book deal. (One suspects not; Johnson has had the good sense to avoid the national media thus far, though it would be nice to hear the story of the entire 507th as opposed to one capture and rescue.) We also cannot say whether Johnson was afforded similar community pleasantries compared to Lynch, but those were hometown movements impossible to intellectually transfer from city to city. We can say both Johnson and Lynch came about their injuries in the same attack and battle, so there is some wisdom in wondering why one person will receive $125 per week for suffering serious injuries and why the other will receive $375 per week for suffering serious injuries.