Afghanistan tragedies force us to remember ‘the kids still there’

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The Patterson family, Robert, left, Carl, center, and Mary, right, all hold onto a photo of their son and brother Chris who was killed in Afghanistan last Friday. | Brian Powers~Sun-Times Media

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Updated: February 12, 2012 8:08AM

The troops have all come home from Iraq. The president has declared an end to the war there. And despite the big headlines this news garnered, it all seemed somewhat anti-climactic, as most of America had already put the War on Terror on a far back burner.

Instead, our focus is on the economy, on unemployment figures, underwater mortgages and a presidential election where the military is barely a blip on the radar screen.

Yet, in the last seven weeks, we’ve seen the war sucker punch our community, not once but twice, when two of our young and brave became victims of those insidious roadside bombs in Afghanistan.

Marine Lance Cpl. Kyle Moser, a 2010 graduate of Oswego High School, lost both legs and part of his right hand from an explosion while seeking out these IEDs the week of Thanksgiving. He is recovering at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Md., where he’s undergone dozens of hours of surgeries — with more to come.

His parents, Patricia Zander of Oswego and Bob Moser of Yorkville — along with Kyle’s young wife Alex — spent most of the Christmas season in a hospital room with their son, who turned 20 while in the trauma care department, and whose life for a long time will be defined by his injuries. Yet they realize that Kyle, who lost 19 pints of blood, is extremely lucky to be alive.

“It’s the second worst phone call a parent can get,” Bob Moser said of that moment he received the news.

Last week, Mary and Bob Patterson got the worst.

The North Aurora couple’s son Christopher was killed Friday morning, along with three others in his National Guard unit, when a roadside bomb detonated while he was doing route clearance, finding and destroying these IEDs. Christopher’s death occurred less than two months after he arrived in Afghanistan from Valparaiso, Ind., where he served in its National Guard unit and was a talented and much-loved music student at the university there.

Chris Patterson, a 2009 graduate of West Aurora, was 20; although, from his senior picture and the military photo we published, he looked young enough to still be playing with GI Joes, instead of searching for deadly explosives in a hostile land far away.

But like Moser, he was a true life hero, who risked his life to keep others safe.

“He was not afraid to die,” Christopher’s father, who served in the Navy, said Monday. “He knew what he needed to do.”

The feelings of Kyle Moser’s family are strikingly similar. “Kyle was doing what he wanted to do,” Bob Moser said from his son’s bedside not long after the injured Marine’s return to the States.

For many Americans who no longer think much about military operations, the statements from these fathers could be hard to fully appreciate. All the more reason we need to be reminded there’s still a war going on.

“They are going back out there and doing the same thing again,” Bob Patterson said of those serving in Afghanistan. And he hopes his son’s death serves as a powerful reminder that “we need all your prayers for the kids still there.”

That could include 18-year-old Carl Patterson, who arrived home Monday night from Marine boot camp in San Diego for his big brother’s funeral that likely will be held the beginning of next week. Seven soldiers and Marines were killed last week in Afghanistan, noted Bob Patterson, which has created “somewhat of a backlog” of flag-draped coffins that need to be brought home.

Because Carl is now the sole remaining heir, the Pattersons’ surviving son was given the choice of duty that would not put him in harm’s way. But the new Marine didn’t hesitate before turning down the offer, his father said.

“What’s the use of being in the military,” Carl replied, “if you are not there to serve?”

As much as “I want my boys home,” this grieving father understands. “It was Christopher’s choice. And it is Carl’s choice.”

Bob Patterson pauses briefly to collect his emotions — then announces in a voice that clearly enunciates each and every word of his final thought: “I could not be prouder.”