Amanda Lewis Hyneman @HynemanLewis - Twitter Profile

about 1 month ago

WE COUNT THE ENEMIES WE KILL. WE RARELY COUNT THE ONES WE CREATE. Nidal Hasan was a patient on my floor in the surgical trauma ICU at Brooke Army Medical Center. I wasn't there when he arrived. I had just left for my deployment to Mosul, Iraq. But the nurses and doctors who cared for him were my peers and my friends, and I know exactly what that required of them, because every one of us had done some version of it before. Before anyone tells me what strength looks like, understand what that work demands. I have cared for a drunk driver who wiped out an entire family and landed in our ICU himself. I have cared for gang members who shot up a block while children were stepping off a school bus, then ended up on our unit with bullets of their own. I have kept alive people who murdered their own families and failed at taking their own lives. And in Iraq, I saved the lives of the very enemy fighters who had just tried to kill us and miraculously survived our response. Every one of those patients got our best. Not because we felt anything for them, but because of who we were. You set aside anger, grief, prejudice and every personal feeling you have, because a life in front of you is a life in front of you. That's the oath. That's the duty. So when Hasan came through those doors, my colleagues did what we had always done. They preserved the life of a man who murdered thirteen people and would have killed them too, given the chance. He killed those men and women in one of the very same buildings many Soldier's like myself have been in when I was stationed at Fort Hood. He is alive today because they did their jobs. That was not sentiment. It was a hard, tangible expression of the values this country claims to stand for. Our principles had to mean something even when the person benefiting from them had violated everything we believed in. Now the Pentagon plans to livestream his execution by firing squad on Dec. 3, and our leaders apparently believe turning his death into a public spectacle will demonstrate American strength. I think it demonstrates how little they understand the enemy they claim to be fighting. We kept Nidal Hasan alive, now our leaders want to make him a martyr. Hasan walked into Fort Hood expecting to die. He believed his death would be rewarded. At his trial, he called no witnesses and offered no defense, and his own court-appointed lawyers worried he was seeking execution. He failed at martyrdom once. Now we're about to hand it to him, in high definition, for every extremist with an internet connection to replay, manipulate and celebrate. We supply the footage. They supply the meaning. Long after the politicians finish congratulating themselves, that video will still exist. Their moment of bravado becomes somebody else's recruiting material for decades. And this failure to think past the immediate display of power reaches far beyond one execution. We count the enemies we kill. We rarely count the enemies we create. Look at the school in Minab, Iran, where multiple investigations attributed the strike that killed more than 100 children and their teachers to us. You cannot bury people's children beneath the rubble of their classrooms and expect a speech about American intentions to decide how they remember you. No denial brings those children home. No claim of good intentions makes their parents forget whose weapons killed them. If those were our children, we would remember for the rest of our lives. We would demand accountability. Many of us would want vengeance. We would tell their stories to the next generation. We know this because we did exactly that after September 11. Why do we imagine other people love their children less, grieve less deeply, or remember less clearly? We have developed a horrifying talent for creating more terrorists than we will ever stop. We inflict suffering, evade responsibility, and then act as though the anger that follows came out of nowhere. Think back to the first time you saw one of those al Qaeda videos of an American being beheaded. Remember the sickness in your stomach. Remember the rage. Remember thinking that only savages would film a killing and send it out for the world to watch. Now ask yourself what the rest of the world will see when the camera is ours. Terrorist organizations stage executions for the cameras. Authoritarian regimes make death a public spectacle to feed fear and rage. Watching our own leaders reach for those same tools should force us to confront how much of ourselves we are surrendering in the name of defeating them. The line separating us from the people we condemn has to live in our conduct. A flag cannot hold it for us. Neither can a uniform, a title, or a declaration that we are the good guys. On that ICU floor, on a bloody street in Mosul, and in trauma bays across this country, people like my colleagues hold that line every day under circumstances most will never face. They keep monsters alive because their duty and their humanity are bigger than their hatred of what those monsters have done. Execute him if that's the sentence. But do it the way a confident nation does; quietly, lawfully, and without giving him the stage he always wanted. Let him be forgotten. I expect our leaders to show at least as much discipline as the nurses who had to care for him. They keep telling us they are defending what makes America different. Every day, they make that difference harder to see. Robert W. Burns III is the editor and publisher of The Space Coast Rocket, an Army veteran and a retired trauma nurse. The views expressed in this column are his own.

CoastRocket's tweet photo. WE COUNT THE ENEMIES WE KILL. WE RARELY COUNT THE ONES WE CREATE.

Nidal Hasan was a patient on my floor in the surgical trauma ICU at Brooke Army Medical Center.

I wasn't there when he arrived. I had just left for my deployment to Mosul, Iraq. But the nurses and doctors who cared for him were my peers and my friends, and I know exactly what that required of them, because every one of us had done some version of it before. Before anyone tells me what strength looks like, understand what that work demands.

I have cared for a drunk driver who wiped out an entire family and landed in our ICU himself. I have cared for gang members who shot up a block while children were stepping off a school bus, then ended up on our unit with bullets of their own. I have kept alive people who murdered their own families and failed at taking their own lives. And in Iraq, I saved the lives of the very enemy fighters who had just tried to kill us and miraculously survived our response.

Every one of those patients got our best. Not because we felt anything for them, but because of who we were. You set aside anger, grief, prejudice and every personal feeling you have, because a life in front of you is a life in front of you. That's the oath. That's the duty.

So when Hasan came through those doors, my colleagues did what we had always done. They preserved the life of a man who murdered thirteen people and would have killed them too, given the chance. He killed those men and women in one of the very same buildings many Soldier's like myself have been in when I was stationed at Fort Hood.
He is alive today because they did their jobs. That was not sentiment. It was a hard, tangible expression of the values this country claims to stand for. Our principles had to mean something even when the person benefiting from them had violated everything we believed in.

Now the Pentagon plans to livestream his execution by firing squad on Dec. 3, and our leaders apparently believe turning his death into a public spectacle will demonstrate American strength. I think it demonstrates how little they understand the enemy they claim to be fighting. We kept Nidal Hasan alive, now our leaders want to make him a martyr.

Hasan walked into Fort Hood expecting to die. He believed his death would be rewarded. At his trial, he called no witnesses and offered no defense, and his own court-appointed lawyers worried he was seeking execution. He failed at martyrdom once. Now we're about to hand it to him, in high definition, for every extremist with an internet connection to replay, manipulate and celebrate.
We supply the footage. They supply the meaning.
Long after the politicians finish congratulating themselves, that video will still exist. Their moment of bravado becomes somebody else's recruiting material for decades. And this failure to think past the immediate display of power reaches far beyond one execution. We count the enemies we kill. We rarely count the enemies we create.

Look at the school in Minab, Iran, where multiple investigations attributed the strike that killed more than 100 children and their teachers to us. You cannot bury people's children beneath the rubble of their classrooms and expect a speech about American intentions to decide how they remember you. No denial brings those children home. No claim of good intentions makes their parents forget whose weapons killed them.
If those were our children, we would remember for the rest of our lives. We would demand accountability. Many of us would want vengeance. We would tell their stories to the next generation. We know this because we did exactly that after September 11.

Why do we imagine other people love their children less, grieve less deeply, or remember less clearly?

We have developed a horrifying talent for creating more terrorists than we will ever stop. We inflict suffering, evade responsibility, and then act as though the anger that follows came out of nowhere.

Think back to the first time you saw one of those al Qaeda videos of an American being beheaded. Remember the sickness in your stomach. Remember the rage. Remember thinking that only savages would film a killing and send it out for the world to watch. Now ask yourself what the rest of the world will see when the camera is ours.
Terrorist organizations stage executions for the cameras. Authoritarian regimes make death a public spectacle to feed fear and rage. Watching our own leaders reach for those same tools should force us to confront how much of ourselves we are surrendering in the name of defeating them.

The line separating us from the people we condemn has to live in our conduct. A flag cannot hold it for us. Neither can a uniform, a title, or a declaration that we are the good guys.
On that ICU floor, on a bloody street in Mosul, and in trauma bays across this country, people like my colleagues hold that line every day under circumstances most will never face. They keep monsters alive because their duty and their humanity are bigger than their hatred of what those monsters have done.

Execute him if that's the sentence. But do it the way a confident nation does; quietly, lawfully, and without giving him the stage he always wanted. Let him be forgotten.

I expect our leaders to show at least as much discipline as the nurses who had to care for him.
They keep telling us they are defending what makes America different. Every day, they make that difference harder to see.

Robert W. Burns III is the editor and publisher of The Space Coast Rocket, an Army veteran and a retired trauma nurse. The views expressed in this column are his own.

650

10K

3K

2K

608K

HynemanLewis retweeted

Robyn Tannehill @RobynTannehill

about 2 months ago

Thank you @GriffJenkins for giving a true and clear picture of Oxford, Mississippi.

12

500

58

19

45K

HynemanLewis retweeted

FOX & Friends

@foxandfriends

about 2 months ago

"If it can happen here, it can happen anywhere." Ole Miss alumnus and former Phi Delta Theta member @GriffJenkins spoke with local parents, university leadership, and fraternity alumni after the tragic deaths of two students. He says while students still feel safe, this tragedy serves as a national wake-up call about the hidden dangers facing college students today. "This is a wake up call for college campuses around the country... Ole Miss is one of the safest campuses in the country... and if it can happen here, it can happen anywhere. We really need to start looking nationally at the dangers that college kids are facing on campuses."

34

404

51

36

94K

HynemanLewis retweeted

Will Day

@WilllDay

9 months ago

2025 Cinematography Reel The best season of my lifetime. So blessed to have the opportunity to capture all of these memories. I love this place and these people and wouldn’t trade it for the world. And I get to work with the best creative team in college football. There’s something magical about Ole Miss. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably felt it. My goal is always to reflect those feelings back to you in the things that I create. Hotty Toddy forever.

24

969

194

195

61K

Who to follow

brian hyneman

@oxsocks

Attorney/Dad and proud Alderman for the City of Oxford. Red Sox fan circa 1983.

HynemanLewis retweeted

Ole Miss

@OleMiss

10 months ago

Winter Storm Fern didn’t just damage our campus. It disrupted lives. Right now, Ole Miss students are facing power and water outages, lost wages and unexpected costs. The Rebel Relief Disaster Fund provides immediate support when students need it most. Help can’t wait. Please give now. Our students need you today. Give: https://t.co/KV5HMOXgP2

OleMiss's tweet photo. Winter Storm Fern didn’t just damage our campus. It disrupted lives.

Right now, Ole Miss students are facing power and water outages, lost wages and unexpected costs.

The Rebel Relief Disaster Fund provides immediate support when students need it most. Help can’t wait.

Please give now. Our students need you today.

Give: https://t.co/KV5HMOXgP2

12

230

91

11

56K

HynemanLewis retweeted

Ole Miss Football @OleMissFB

11 months ago

Game 14 | Legends have come before. Now write your own story. 🎙️Archie Manning #BeatGeorgia | #HottyToddy

42

3K

594

224

162K

HynemanLewis retweeted

New York Giants

@Giants

12 months ago

QB1 🎯 SEND JAXSON DART TO HIS FIRST PRO BOWL 1 REPOST 🔁 = 1 #ProBowlVote

68

5K

4K

133

216K

HynemanLewis retweeted

New York Giants

@Giants

over 1 year ago

131

10K

1K

113

393K

HynemanLewis retweeted

Oxford Baseball @OxfordBaseball1

over 1 year ago

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝗡𝗢𝗪! #chargerforlife

0

86

15

5

8K

HynemanLewis retweeted

Brad Logan

@BradLoganTOC

over 1 year ago

"Our fans feel it, our town feels it and our students feel it." "We've raised the level of expectations for Ole Miss basketball." -Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard

3

634

25

0

14K

Amanda Lewis Hyneman @HynemanLewis

over 1 year ago

@Blutman27 ‼️x1000000

0

770

HynemanLewis retweeted

Iron Phi @IronPhi

about 2 years ago

🚨𝐈𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐡𝐢 #𝟐𝟐𝟕𝟒 🦹‍♂️ - Henry Hyneman (@henry_hyneman) ⚔️ - Mississippi Alpha (@olemiss) 💰 - $1,076.50 🏃🏻‍♂️ - Ole Miss Tri Delta Go For Gold 5k 📆 - 348th Iron Phi of 2024! Join us at https://t.co/V3EkX9hpkM.