This will be fairly short. I am an American veteran, and in my teens and early 20s was proud to be a GI in the US Air Force. What happened in November 2009 at Fort Hood shook the US military community profoundly. What happened today, I think, will shake it harder ...
..the Congress of the United States is, perhaps fortunately, not united in its response to the Fort Hood survivors' status. We have a Congressman from Texas who disagrees with the Army's decision to deny the survivors the medals typically provided to US service members who are wounded or killed in combat.
Thirteen people died in that clinic.
Michael Grant Cahill[60] 62 Spokane, Washington Civilian Physician Assistant Shot while trying to charge the shooter[51]
Libardo Eduardo Caraveo[61] 52 Woodbridge, Virginia Major
Justin Michael DeCrow[62] 32 Plymouth, Indiana Staff Sergeant
John P. Gaffaney[63] 56 Serra Mesa, California Captain[64] Shot while trying to charge the shooter[26]
Frederick Greene[60] 29 Mountain City, Tennessee Specialist
Jason Dean Hunt[60] 22 Tipton, Oklahoma Specialist
Amy Sue Krueger[60] 29 Kiel, Wisconsin Staff Sergeant
Aaron Thomas Nemelka[60] 19 West Jordan, Utah Private First Class
Michael S. Pearson[65] 22 Bolingbrook, Illinois Private First Class
Russell Gilbert Seager[58] 51 Racine, Wisconsin Captain[66]
Francheska Velez[67] 21 Chicago, Illinois Private First Class Was pregnant when shot and killed; the fetus also died.[68]
Juanita L. Warman[58] 55 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Lieutenant Colonel[69]
Kham See Xiong[60] 23 Saint Paul, Minnesota Private First Class
Thirty other people were taken to hospitals with injuries sustained, and eight more hospitalized for stress.
It is being done, the Army says, to ensure fairness in the prosecution of the Fort Hood shooter, Major Nidal Hassan. Apparently the Army high command prefers not to intimate that this attack on our own troops in their own base is an act of terrorism. The dead and injured will not be recognized before the trial, which has been delayed and delayed.
Once the trial is over, I hope the Army will reconsider this decision.