Author Topic: RIP Theresa Flannery  (Read 3429 times)

gunsmith

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RIP Theresa Flannery
« on: May 28, 2010, 05:45:59 PM »
God Bless Her



http://www.thestate.com/2010/05/25/1302932/theresa-flannery-iraq-war-veteran.html



Tuesday, May. 25, 2010
Theresa Flannery, Iraq War veteran and former beauty queen, dies at 32




LEXINGTON, Ky. —

Theresa Flannery went to Iraq in 2004 and walked into one of the hottest firefights of the war.

She and other U.S. soldiers were trapped on the roof of a government compound at Najaf, dodging rifle fire and rocket-propelled grenades from renegade militiamen. Flannery traded gunfire with enemy snipers, shattering bones in her wrist diving for cover. A photo of Flannery, taken during the two-hour fight, circulated around the world, and the former Miss Madison County was recommended for a Bronze Star.

Back home in Kentucky, Flannery got a hero's welcome. But only family members and close friends knew of the price she paid, and her struggles with post traumatic stress disorder.



Last Thursday, Flannery, 32, died while on a visit in Lexington, N.C. She apparently died in her sleep.

Preliminary autopsy results were inconclusive. But her father, David Flannery, said he has no doubt that her death was related to the physical and emotional scars she carried from her experiences in Iraq.

"That's my gut feeling," he said. "Theresa had been dealing with some horrible problems from PTSD. She was being treated for that, and they kept changing the medication she was taking. She was on 85 percent disability from the Army. She had lost a lot of weight."

Flannery leaves behind a son, Nicholas Flannery, 5.

By all accounts, she lived life to the fullest and threw herself into everything she undertook, whether it was playing sports or soldiering. Her mother, Maggie Flannery, used to call her "a 5-foot-3 fireball."

Flannery grew up in Richmond, and she was crowned Miss Teen Madison County at age 13. She was runner-up for Miss Madison County at age 18, and she assumed the title when the winner couldn't complete her reign. She ran cross country at Madison Southern High School, graduating in 1997.

Service was expected in the Flannery family. Her father and both her brothers served the Lexington Police Department. Her brothers also served in the military, one earning a Bronze Star in Iraq. Flannery joined the Army after high school, served overseas, then joined the Army Reserve when her enlistment ended. She returned to active duty in late 2003.

In Iraq, she was assigned to the 350th Civil Affairs Command, a unit that didn't normally go into combat. But in late March 2004, Flannery volunteered for a potentially dangerous mission, accompanying military observers at Najaf, where millions of *expletive deleted*it Muslims were making an annual religious pilgrimage. A guerrilla attack was feared.

It came on the morning of April 2, 2004, when snipers opened fire on the government compound where she and her companions were on duty. A bullet meant for her struck one of her companions. She helped to care for the wounded, and their blood soaked her clothing.

She attained the rank of sergeant and ultimately received the Army Commendation Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device, and the Purple Heart. When she came home on leave in June 2004, Sgt. Flannery helped arrange for the Lexington Police Department to send 50 pieces of Kevlar body armor for soldiers to use in Iraq.

But David Flannery says his daughter's problems began soon after her Iraq tour ended at the close of 2004. She had nightmares, he said, and she went through periods of deep depression. Memories of Iraq could send her into tears. Her father said she was invited to speak at a military memorial event in Richmond, Ky., a few years ago, but she became too emotional to finish her speech.

"There were a lot of ups and downs," he said. "They would put her on some drug for a few months and it would help. Then, it would stop working and they would switch to another drug. It was really hard for her, particularly trying to raise her son."

Nevertheless, Flannery kept moving forward, trying to help others.

In recent years, she had been living in Lexington, working at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

She completed a bachelor's degree from Lindsey Wilson College and was working on a master's, her father said.

He said she had hoped to become a counselor, helping other veterans.


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gunsmith

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Re: RIP Theresa Flannery
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2010, 05:51:25 PM »
http://northshorejournal.org/spec-theresa-lynn-flannery

She was the only woman in a contingent of about 20 Americans that stood with Spanish soldiers to hold off an attack by more than 1,000 insurgents.

“I fractured my hand as I jumped to the ground to take cover,” she said. “I heard two bullets whiz past my head as I fell.” Two of her comrades were wounded as the attack began.

“Their blood is still on these boots,” she said, pointing to her unpolished footwear.

“My hand was swollen, but it was not diagnosed as fractured until two weeks later,” she said. “It hurt as I was firing my rifle, but when you’re fighting for your life, you forget about the pain.”

She was awarded a purple heart and a combat citation for valor.
Politicians and bureaucrats are considered productive if they swarm the populace like a plague of locust, devouring all substance in their path and leaving a swath of destruction like a firestorm. The technical term is "bipartisanship".
Rocket Man: "The need for booster shots for the immunized has always been based on the science.  Political science, not medical science."

230RN

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Re: RIP Theresa Flannery
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2010, 07:14:51 PM »
"Flannery leaves behind a son, Nicholas Flannery, 5."

That is awful.

RIP, now that eternal peace has come to  you, Theresa.



Terry

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Cromlech

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Re: RIP Theresa Flannery
« Reply #3 on: May 28, 2010, 07:50:57 PM »
RIP Sergeant.
When in deadly danger, when beset by doubt, run in little circles, wave your arms and shout!

wmenorr67

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Re: RIP Theresa Flannery
« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2010, 07:11:37 AM »
Please remember her and all the others that have given their life so we can be free this weekend.

When you hear stories like this it puts things in prospective and it ain't about the BBQ or watermelon this weekend.

As the Billy Ray Cyrus song states, "All gave some, some gave all."
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Scout26

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Re: RIP Theresa Flannery
« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2010, 06:32:30 PM »
Thank you Sergeant Flannery,


From those whose debt can never be repaid.
Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants won't help.


Bring me my Broadsword and a clear understanding.
Get up to the roundhouse on the cliff-top standing.
Take women and children and bed them down.
Bless with a hard heart those that stand with me.
Bless the women and children who firm our hands.
Put our backs to the north wind.
Hold fast by the river.
Sweet memories to drive us on,
for the motherland.

seeker_two

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Re: RIP Theresa Flannery
« Reply #6 on: May 29, 2010, 07:33:57 PM »
Another good one gone.....we'll remember....  :'(
Impressed yet befogged, they grasped at his vivid leading phrases, seeing only their surface meaning, and missing the deeper current of his thought.

Gowen

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Re: RIP Theresa Flannery
« Reply #7 on: May 29, 2010, 08:05:55 PM »
God bless this lady.

I've never been a fan of sending women into combat theater.
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