Despite being a member of the Army National Guard, Michelle Lutz had started to believe she was going to be able to watch the war on Iraq, both physically and mentally, from afar.

As a member of the guard, the physical part appeared to be easy. Believing she knew no one in the theater of operations in the Persian Gulf, the emotional part also appeared to be attainable. Or at least it did until March 23, when U.S. military officials confirmed that Pfc. Jessica Lynch, along with nearly a dozen other soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company, were missing after an ambush near the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah.

While Pfc. Lynch's story touched most Americans in some way, it was especially personal to Miss Lutz who had befriended Pfc. Lynch while the two went through basic and advanced individual training together in 2001 and 2002.

"I thought I'd go through this and not know anyone," said Miss Lutz, a Slippery Rock University freshman and 2001 Sharpsville High graduate. "I didn't think I'd have to worry about anyone over there, and then a close friend at that."

That close friend was Pfc. Lynch, a 19-year-old from Palestine, W.Va., who was a prisoner of war for 12 days before gaining worldwide attention after her dramatic rescue from an Iraqi hospital. Nine other members of the 507th were killed in the ambush and were posthumously awarded Purple Hearts. Other members of the 507th who had been taken prisoner were freed on Sunday.

The two met, Miss Lutz said, while going through basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., and "immediately hit it off there." Their friendship continued, she added, as they went through advanced individual training together at Fort Lee, Va., where both became unit supply specialists.

"The last time I saw her was at AIT, but we had written letters back and forth," said Miss Lutz, 20, a daughter of Judy DiBattiste, Hermitage, and Kenneth Lutz, Sharpsville. "I sent her a letter last summer, but I don't think she ever got it because her unit might have gotten sent to Saudi Arabia."

It wasn't until an unforgettable early-morning call from her boyfriend, Mark Snyder, that Miss Lutz heard of her friend again -- the day Pfc. Lynch was confirmed missing.

"He called me and woke me up, I don't even know what time in the morning it was, and said Jesscia Lynch was missing," Miss Lutz said.

Although her boyfriend made calls to some of the major cable news networks in an effort to confirm Pfc. Lynch's status, Miss Lutz was still in a state of disbelief.

"It was a shock because I didn't think I knew anyone over in the war," she said. "It was so scary. And I kept saying it can't be her, it can't be her. But I was so relieved when she was found."

That rescue was the stuff Hollywood films are made of as U.S. commandos, acting on a tip from an Iraqi lawyer, rescued her during a daring nighttime raid. She was originally treated at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany before being returned to the United States on Saturday to recover from her injuries, which included a spinal injury, and fractures to her right arm, both legs and her right foot and ankle.

Miss Lutz said she has made several attempts to contact Pfc. Lynch since the rescue, but has thus far been unsuccessful except for conversations she has had with Deadre and Greg Lynch Sr., Pfc. Lynch's parents.

"I asked her parents to talk to her the first week, but it couldn't be done," Miss Lutz said. "So I sent three cards to her, one just to talk to her, one for her birthday and one for Easter."

As for the day she finally gets to see her friend again?

"I'm probably just going to go up to her and say I'm so glad she's OK," Miss Lutz said. "I'm just glad she's OK and gets to be at home again."

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Jeff Greenburg at
jgreenburg@sharonherald.com.