The Army Times article is gone, but her pic is still there.
http://www4.army.mil/armyimages/armyimage.php?photo=10894"by Sgt. Eliamar Trapp
July 10, 2006
Pfc. Cindra Smith of C Company clears her weapon before entering the barracks after physical training. She joined the Army to become an EOD specialist after her daughter was injured in Iraq during an IED attack."
It's sad -she must be a very troubled woman to have gone into such detail in her fabrications. There are snips from the orig piece on a few RW sites. Here's one, with comments from the blogger-
Meet Pfc. Cindra Smith
By Eric
In light of all the coverage Cindy Sheehan has received since the beginning of her undertaking against everything GWOT, I’d like you meet 40 year old Pfc Cindra Smith, who recently enlisted (once the Army raised its age limit for enlistees) after her daughter got injured by an IED in Iraq:
Pvt. Tracy Branton, Smith’s oldest daughter, was a heavy wheel mechanic on a convoy in Iraq when it was hit by IEDs. When Branton and her fellow soldiers got out of the vehicles to inspect the area, she was shot in the back. Now 21, Branton is 70 percent disabled and has a slight paralysis because of the injuries caused by the shooting.
“I remember being angry,” Smith said. “As parents, we always try and look for someone to blame. But knowing that she was doing something she believed in and wanted to do helped me get over that.”
After Branton was injured, Smith’s 20-year-old son, James Pritchard, decided to join the Army to become an infantryman. He attended basic and advanced individual training at Fort Benning, Ga., and is serving in Iraq with the 1st Infantry Division.
When the Army raised its acceptance age from 35 to 40 and then to 42, Smith made a life-changing move. Two weeks away from her 40th birthday, she is now known as Pfc. Cindra Smith, a soldier in C Company, 832nd Ordnance Battalion, 59th Ordnance Brigade, where she is attending AIT to become an explosive ordnance disposal specialist.
“If I can save another parent from getting the same phone call I did, then I would have done everything I came in to do,” Smith said.
I usually find stories like this after surfing a handful of mainstream media outlets. Anyone surprised that I never once stumbled across this inspirational article? Instead, a Greensickle reader emailed me this story from Defenselink. Apparently, I need to browse other media outlets more frequently…
Posted July 19, 2006 10:24 PM Eric
http://greensickle.com/2006/07/meet_pfc_cindra_smith.html