Politics take a backseat to the pain of war

Posted at 5:13 PM on July 20, 2009 by Tim Pugmire (1 Comments)

My editors assigned me to report today on Minnesota's latest casualty, Cpl. Benjamin Kopp, 21, of Rosemount. Kopp died Sat. of wounds suffered July 10 in Afghanistan.

It's been a tough few days for several Minnesota families. For Kopp's mom, Jill Stephenson, she'll bury her only child. It was an honor to speak with her in time of grief.

"He made me more proud than I really ever thought was possible in life," Stephenson said. "And now in his passing, in the conditions in which he died and being an organ donor, words can't express how elated I am and how proud I am to be his mother."

I also talked to several friends who described Kopp as funny, caring, outgoing, intense and hard working. He will be missed.

If you need a reminder of the cost of war, check out the U.S. Department of Defense news releases for just the last month. Click and read a few of the notifications for casualties. Do you feel it? I still do.

Comments (1)

I remember the Vietnam War--not fighting it; watching it on television at home when I was a little kid. I'd watch the black and white film footage of casualties on the six o'clock news; footage of GIs dragging other GIs out of the reeds on stretchers, bleeding, hooked up to emergency transfusions.

And then the local television network would go into an "I Love Lucy" re-run from the fifties. We have a remarkable ability in this country to anesthetize ourselves to the fact that war is going on, that kids are fighting and dying for us.

Even in the age of the 24 hour news cycle. Remember the wall to wall coverage of the first Gulf War? Our attention span for a war seems to be limited to a matter of a year or less...after that, the wars seemed to become a mild background noise for Americans at home.

Which is awful, for the people and families who are fighting and sometimes dying--for us.

Posted by Bill Prendergast | July 21, 2009 12:00 AM

Services

• Hourly Newscast
• HD Radio
• iPhone App / Mobile
• E-mail newsletters
• RSS feeds
• Podcasts
• Submit your photos
• Videos
• Weather
• Most e-mailed stories