thedrifter
09-10-08, 08:39 AM
Local native returns to protest war
Keith Grauman, South Washington County Bulletin
Published Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Tim Origer, a St. Paul Park native who now lives in New Mexico, has a few complaints with the way the media covered anti-war protests outside the RNC.
His biggest one: that few veterans who took part in the demonstrations were interviewed.
“Out of all the newscasts, I saw maybe one veteran interviewed,” he said. “It’s the veterans who are fighting the war, it’s the veterans who are left to deal with the consequences after the war, and it’s the veterans who were left without a voice.”
Origer drove up to his mother’s house in Hastings to take part in an anti-war protest held on Labor Day in St. Paul.
Of all the people in attendance to protest the war, Origer said, the veterans in the crowd, especially those from the group Iraq Veterans Against the War, had the most enlightened perspectives on the issue, having been on the ground and seen the war first-hand, he said.
Origer is himself a veteran of the Vietnam war. He talks animatedly, letting his hands do much of the work. His eyes are set deep into their sockets and his white mustache curls around his mouth. Standing at nearly seven feet tall, he walks with a slight limp due to the fact that he’s missing his left leg.
Origer was a point man with the Marines during the Tet Offensive in 1968, an offensive push made by Vietcong and North Vietnamese forces during the war.
He was on patrol one day when an enemy bomb, similar to the improvised explosive devices common in the Iraq war, went off and claimed his leg and the lives of several of his fellow Marines.
Fast-forward about 40 years.
Origer was never a very politically involved person. He said the military, and Marine Corps in particular, is like a brotherhood, and when the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan started and American casualities began coming in, he couldn’t help but recall memories of Vietnam.
“I saw the same thing happening,” he said. “It was like I was losing little brothers and sisters.”
Origer said he was glued to the TV in the initial stages of the Iraq war out of a feeling of wanting to do something to help. Having dealt with his own struggles of post-traumatic stress syndrome and not wanting to see another generation of soldiers go through the same difficulties, he came to the conclusion that the best thing he could do for them is to help get them out of harm’s way and get America out of the war.
To create a dialog about the costs of war, Origer built a unique memorial that he brings with him to demonstrations.
He’s assembled photos of every one of the more than 4,000 American soldiers killed in Iraq. Mounting them on large panels, the display spans more than two football fields in length.
“I want to make people aware of the true cost of war,” he said. “When most people hear 4,500, it’s just a number.”
He hopes the photos remind people that for each “number,” there’s a family and a group of friends that will be forever changed. Each day, as more American casualties are reported on the news, people should be reminded of that fact.
“It’s a lot bigger than five new names on a list,” he said.
Geri Jaramillio, Origer’s wife, marched alongside him in the protest and said beyond the family and friends of a soldier killed in action, the community that person came from loses someone who could have made a positive contribution to the people who live there.
“So we all lose,” she said.
Because of its size and the cost to transport it, Origer wasn’t able to bring the memorial to the march in St. Paul last week. Instead he brought a banner displaying the number of Americans killed and wounded on a backdrop of photos of them.
Another banner showed pictures of civilian Iraqis who’ve been injured and killed as a result of the war. He said he wants American citizens to remember they are people too, and not simply “collateral damage.”
Keith Grauman can be reached at kgrauman@hastingsstargazette.com.
Ellie
Keith Grauman, South Washington County Bulletin
Published Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Tim Origer, a St. Paul Park native who now lives in New Mexico, has a few complaints with the way the media covered anti-war protests outside the RNC.
His biggest one: that few veterans who took part in the demonstrations were interviewed.
“Out of all the newscasts, I saw maybe one veteran interviewed,” he said. “It’s the veterans who are fighting the war, it’s the veterans who are left to deal with the consequences after the war, and it’s the veterans who were left without a voice.”
Origer drove up to his mother’s house in Hastings to take part in an anti-war protest held on Labor Day in St. Paul.
Of all the people in attendance to protest the war, Origer said, the veterans in the crowd, especially those from the group Iraq Veterans Against the War, had the most enlightened perspectives on the issue, having been on the ground and seen the war first-hand, he said.
Origer is himself a veteran of the Vietnam war. He talks animatedly, letting his hands do much of the work. His eyes are set deep into their sockets and his white mustache curls around his mouth. Standing at nearly seven feet tall, he walks with a slight limp due to the fact that he’s missing his left leg.
Origer was a point man with the Marines during the Tet Offensive in 1968, an offensive push made by Vietcong and North Vietnamese forces during the war.
He was on patrol one day when an enemy bomb, similar to the improvised explosive devices common in the Iraq war, went off and claimed his leg and the lives of several of his fellow Marines.
Fast-forward about 40 years.
Origer was never a very politically involved person. He said the military, and Marine Corps in particular, is like a brotherhood, and when the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan started and American casualities began coming in, he couldn’t help but recall memories of Vietnam.
“I saw the same thing happening,” he said. “It was like I was losing little brothers and sisters.”
Origer said he was glued to the TV in the initial stages of the Iraq war out of a feeling of wanting to do something to help. Having dealt with his own struggles of post-traumatic stress syndrome and not wanting to see another generation of soldiers go through the same difficulties, he came to the conclusion that the best thing he could do for them is to help get them out of harm’s way and get America out of the war.
To create a dialog about the costs of war, Origer built a unique memorial that he brings with him to demonstrations.
He’s assembled photos of every one of the more than 4,000 American soldiers killed in Iraq. Mounting them on large panels, the display spans more than two football fields in length.
“I want to make people aware of the true cost of war,” he said. “When most people hear 4,500, it’s just a number.”
He hopes the photos remind people that for each “number,” there’s a family and a group of friends that will be forever changed. Each day, as more American casualties are reported on the news, people should be reminded of that fact.
“It’s a lot bigger than five new names on a list,” he said.
Geri Jaramillio, Origer’s wife, marched alongside him in the protest and said beyond the family and friends of a soldier killed in action, the community that person came from loses someone who could have made a positive contribution to the people who live there.
“So we all lose,” she said.
Because of its size and the cost to transport it, Origer wasn’t able to bring the memorial to the march in St. Paul last week. Instead he brought a banner displaying the number of Americans killed and wounded on a backdrop of photos of them.
Another banner showed pictures of civilian Iraqis who’ve been injured and killed as a result of the war. He said he wants American citizens to remember they are people too, and not simply “collateral damage.”
Keith Grauman can be reached at kgrauman@hastingsstargazette.com.
Ellie