Jessica lynch

The nurses at the hospital tried to soothe me, and they even tried unsuccessfully at one point to return me to Americans.

Since coming back from Iraq, there's been so many triumphs and obstacles standing in my way, so whenever I set my mind to something, I definitely just go full blast at it.

I don't think any war is worth having our soldiers killed.

There's soldiers out there every day that are doing heroic things... We don't need to create them.

The whole idea that the rescue was staged or the soldiers were shooting blanks, that's just obvious stuff. Why would you do that in the middle of a war? It's just crazy.

I don't come from a rich family - it's not like we lived in a cardboard box, but we didn't have a ton of money.

I have repeatedly said, when asked, that if the stories about me helped inspired our troops and rally a nation, then perhaps there was some good.

I woke up and all I could see was Iraqis standing all around me, looking down upon me. I knew at that moment something terrible had happened and I wasn't in the right place.

They told me I'd never probably see the front-line area.

There's not day that goes by that I don't remember why I'm in the situation I'm in.