I never really had much on an opinion about Shoshana Johnson, but she did rub me the wrong way when she was defending Malik Hasan as not being a terrorist, but instead someone who just snapped from PTSD even though he never served overseas.  It is pretty clear now that this guy is a Muslim extremist and not a PTSD case.  Anyway you may be seeing Johnson all over the news again with the release of her book:

In helping former Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson write her autobiography, Fort Meade Media Relations Chief Mary L. Doyle not only exposed the world to the plight of the country’s first African-American female prisoner of war, but furthered Doyle’s own budding literary career.

The book tells the story of Johnson, a single mother from Texas who was a part of a supply detail when her company was ambushed in Iraq just days after the U.S. invasion began.

Eleven members of Johnson’s company were killed. Six others, including Johnson and then 19-year-old soldier Jessica Lynch, were assaulted and taken prisoner by Iraqi forces on March 23, 2003. Johnson was shot in both legs during the attack. The American prisoners were freed by Marines several weeks later.

Though Johnson was awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart, her capture was largely ignored and overshadowed in the media and among military leadership by Lynch’s captivity.

The incident touched off a firestorm of controversy about racism in the military and the media. Reports surfaced that Lynch received a more lucrative book deal and larger disability payments than Johnson.  [Army Times]

The whole Jessica Lynch storyline during the war just about every warfighter on the ground knew was nonsense.  The media are the idiots that hyped that storyline for reasons that people can draw their own conclusions about.  Anyway here is the part in the article that also rubbed me the wrong way about Johnson:

But Johnson said in the book that several commanders and fellow soldiers at Fort Bliss, where she was assigned, began resenting the star treatment she and other POWs received when they returned home. The ordeal forced Johnson to resign from the Army. She was eventually granted an honorable discharge.

What many people in the military resented about the entire 507th Maintenance Company ambush was the fact that the person that put up a fight against the Iraqi attackers was the one ignored by the media and that would be PFC Patrick Miller who was awarded the Silver Star for his actions.  You have got to love Miller’s reply to questions from the Al Jazeera reporter while in captivity:

“I come to fix broke stuff.” Asked if he came to shoot Iraqis, he answered, “No, I come to shoot only if I am shot at. They don’t bother me, I don’t bother them.”

Miller is still in the Army and currently a Staff Sergeant.