As anyone who has used a grinder or followed behind a car with a dragging exhaust knows, metal in contact with an abrasive surface at a high speed creates quite a show. The rotors of helicopters spinning in desert sand are no exception.
Until recently this erie, halo-like effect had no name. Photographer Michael Yon dubbed it the "Kopp-Etchells Effect." The name
is in honor of two servicemen who died in Afghanistan in 2009, Joseph Etchells and Benjamin Kopp.
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It is entirely appropriate to name this mesmerizing phenomena after two who served their countries at great sacrifice. Natural occurrences---rainbows, lighting, cold, sunsets--often cause us to think about matters far greater than than the physics of what is making the show.
It is the stuff of poetry. I figure Mr. Yon had something like that in mind. I hope "Kopp Etchells" sticks. I find it much more satisfying than "Sand and Rotor."
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Corporal, U.K. Army
2nd Battalion,
The Royal Regiment
of Fusiliers
March 27, 1987 -
July 19, 2009
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The story reminds me of truth from scripture. Many who are ignored, forgotten, even persecuted for their faith in this faith in this life, will be honored in such a way that "sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed" (Romans 8:18). The abrasion that sometimes leaves us bleeding will result in praise to our Lord. It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. (See Revelation 7:13-17 for an example.)
It's STTA
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