By: Keith Kappes
Columnist
Carter County Times
America’s newest armed conflict, started without a congressional declaration of war as required by the Constitution, came home to Kentucky again this week with the news that Sgt. Benjamin Pennington of Glendale in Hardin County had been killed.
His death came a week after he was wounded when an Iranian missile struck Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudia Arabia where his Space Force unit from Fort Carson, Colo., was providing air defense.
Earlier, six Army Reservists from Iowa but stationed at Fort Knox died in an Iranian missile strike at a civilian port in Kuwait one day after the war began.
Those facilities are among about a dozen in the Middle East where substantial numbers of American service members are permanently stationed. From the first attack by U.S. and Israeli aircraft on Feb. 28, the Iranians vowed to take revenge on Americans and Israelis whenever and wherever they could be found.
The 26-year-old Kentuckian was the seventh U.S. soldier killed since the conflict began, according to the Department of War, formerly the Department of Defense. A soldier since 2017, Pennington was promoted to staff sergeant posthumously. He held several awards for good performance and conduct in uniform.
“Department of War” has been used since last September as a secondary title by virtue of an executive order signed by President Trump. A permanent name change also requires congressional approval.
Sadly, the name change of the largest department in our federal government depicted its future mission in the Trump Administration as illustrated by U.S. military incursions twice into Iran, a presidential kidnapping in Venezuela, sinking of alleged drug smuggling fishing boats in the Caribbean Ocean, a shipping blockade of Cuba to enforce a crippling oil embargo and multiple threats against Greenland.
The commander-in-chief who described himself as a peacemaker during the 2024 campaign also pledged to avoid involving us in another “forever war” in the Middle East. At this rate, his dream of receiving the Nobel Peace Prize remains a fantasy.
And I wonder how many times we’ll hear Pete Hegseth use the phrase “warrior ethos” as those U.S. body bags start arriving by the planeload at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
Contact Keith at keithkappes@gmail.com.
