Jessica Lynch survived Iraq, and now she survived her freshman year. I’m sure that trying to blend in with her classes and not stand out is difficult.

Three years after her capture and dramatic nighttime rescue in the
early days of the Iraq war made her an instant celebrity, Jessica Lynch
yearns for the ordinary.

She’s just finished her first year at West Virginia University,
where she’s become an anonymous college student on a campus of
thousands.

“I think people recognize who I am; they just don’t make it
obvious,” Lynch, 23, said in a recent interview with The Associated
Press.

“That’s good for me because it gives me the opportunity to blend in
and not stick out and really experience the college life just like they
are.”

In case you have forgotten who Lynch is…

Lynch’s 507th Army Maintenance Company convoy was in Nasiriyah on
March 23, 2003, when it took a wrong turn and was attacked. Eleven
American soldiers were killed and six were captured, including Lynch.

The former supply clerk suffered extensive injuries when her Humvee
crashed during the firefight. Her videotaped rescue from Saddam
Hospital by U.S. special forces nine days later transformed the
soft-spoken woman into a hero.

She still has no feeling in her left leg and has to wear a brace to
support her foot because of nerve damage. And Lynch says she still
can’t remember the events that filled the two hours after her convoy
was hit.

“Right now, I have sort of this image of what could have happened,”
she said. “If I actually knew and it came back, I probably would have
nightmares for the rest of my life.”

Though she was once engaged to former Army Sgt. Ruben Contreras, she
now has a new boyfriend in Parkersburg. She protects details about her
private life, saying only she met him through family.

Lynch spends most of the week on campus, but often leaves town on weekends to visit her boyfriend or her parents.

“I want people to remember me as being a soldier who went over there
and did my job fighting for our country, our freedom. Nothing special.
… I’m just a country girl at heart.”