Fort Hood Soldier Shoots (and kills) Commanding Officer and Himself

Carissa Picard, Esq.
President
Military Spouses for Change
P.O. Box 216
Copperas Cove, TX 76522
From Military Spouse Press. I went to the scene of the shooting yesterday and talked to the neighbors and witnesses. Frankly, I am surprised this hasn't happened sooner. My concern, however, is that we will see this happen again... I currently have two soldiers who should be in the warrior transition unit for mental health treatment but instead have been getting the runaround and harrassed and are facing court martials for misconduct--one at Ft. Sill and one at Ft. Riley. The reason MSC's proposed legislation, the Returning Warriors Mental Health Protection Act, is so key is because post-deployment misconduct automatically puts service members into the mental health system for evaluation and possible treatment (as well as a comprehensive neuropsych eval).
Fort Hood Soldier Shoots (and kills) Commanding Officer and Himself
by: Carissa Picard
Tue Sep 09, 2008 at 11:08:23 AM EDT
Yesterday morning, a Fort Hood soldier (22) shot and killed his commanding officer (a 24 year-old Lieutenant) and himself in front of dozens of witnesses and police officers. Both soldiers were assigned to 1st Cavalry Division, a division that had just finished a fifteen month tour in Iraq last December and is currently preparing for its next twelve month tour this winter.

The facts surrounding this case are unclear. Some neighbors said he had been AWOL when his sergeant and lieutenant came to see him but the public affairs office said that he was on transitional leave and the visit was pertaining to stolen equipment. According to one eyewitness, the police were called when a significant amount of ammunition was seen through the blinds of the soldier's living room window. By the time the police got there, however, the soldier had stepped outside of his apartment to talk to his lieutenant. Once outside, he shot his lieutenant, exchanged fire with the police, and then shot himself. Autopsies are being performed on both soldiers.

I am dying to know what kind of discharge this soldier was getting. I would be very surprised if he was not exhibiting "red flag" behavior prior to this visit; i.e., engaging in acts of misconduct or other self-destructive behavior signaling that he was a soldier in distress.

Ironically, last week the Army recognized National Suicide Prevention Week. The Army also has a "battle buddy" program/policy to combat suicide. Soldiers are teamed up in pairs and they are supposed to keep an eye on each other.

Despite these efforts, the number of Army suicides in 2008 is expected to surpass the number of suicides in 2007, continuing its post 9/11 annual record-breaking trend (with each new year breaking the record of the one preceding it). Suicides are not the problem, they are a symptom of the problem: the Army does not put nearly as much emphasis on the mental health and well-being of its soldiers as it does on their physical health and well-being.

Yet after waging seven years of ground warfare in Afghanistan and five years of ground warfare in Iraq, one would think that the military would realize that service member psychological stability is ESSENTIAL to unit readiness and troop morale--not to mention public safety.

The Army says that it appreciates the importance of mental health but I have seen unit after unit choose to punish a post-combat soldier for misconduct rather than help that soldier get evaluated and treated for PTSD (as well as traumatic brain injuries). This is a choice that Commanders make and it is a choice that completely undermines the Department of the Army's own messaging on the importance of good mental health. Nonetheless, this is happening at Army bases all over the country.

If we are going to continue to engage in these prolonged military conflicts overseas, then mental health care has to be made a priority. It has to be generously funded by Congress and aggressively utilized by the Department of Defense. If we don't, then this won't be the last time you will read a headline like this.
www.militaryspousesforchange.com