(There was also literal toxicity on base in that some of the mold-infested barracks where soldiers lived were "technically condemned," according to Maureen Elliott, a military spouse and a housing advocate.). From here, wars are launched. Guilln's death triggered a social media movement of former and current military service people speaking out about sexual assault and harassment on the base. If not, what explained the false accounting? "Give me the name and I will report the bastard," Gloria told her daughter, who refused to tell her mother more for fear of worrying her, and also, Gloria later suspected, for fear of reprisal. Nearly 200 miles away in Houston, Rogelio Guillen was entering his fourth hour of work at a nickel-plating factory when he felt a sharp spasm in his chest. The Idaho Murders, Part 1: How 4 College Kids Lived and Loved. Five were murdered. Women, who make up 17 percent of active-duty military, were doubly bereft, and the case files were awash with stories of the dead. 6 min read. Two witnesses had seen Robinson roll a black cargo box out of the arms room and through the parking lot, where he loaded it into his car and drove away, contradicting an earlier affidavit from three soldiers who falsely claimed they had seen Guillen departing the arms room earlier. Fort Bragg; which has nearly double the soldier population as Fort Hood, is reporting 24 deaths so far this year, with five of them happening in accidents, one homicide, seven from illness,. It rained that night, and the drive, which should have taken three hours, was slow going. At first blush, such violence at a base that calls itself the Great Place may seem extraordinary, inexplicable even. It was ruled a suicide until her father noticed her broken nose, black eye, loose teeth, and burns on her genitals. Ive even lost myself. (Ring returned to base of his own accord later that day.). (Penny says they met online.) On April 30, 2021, Fort Hood found that Guillen had indeed been sexually harassed by a soldier, but not Robinson.). That is the opposite of what hes been consistently saying.. Joel Leal 12:18 PM, Oct 11, 2022 . Thirteen killed themselves. Bill to attend technical school in Houston to work on wind turbines or oil rigs off the coast of Louisiana. The deaths of Fort Hood soldiers have gained international attention in recent months after the slaying of Vanessa Guillen, a 20-year-old Army specialist the authorities say was killed on. As publication approached, it stopped responding to emails pertaining to both specific questions about individual cases as well as broader queries about the base.). Frantic, she called around, to no avail. Ive lost brothers and sisters in arms, a marriage, Ive lost family, Ive lost friendships that were supposed to be forever. He died the evening of September 2. If she wanted to pursue things further, they advised, she would have to file a missing persons report with the local police. In 2007, also in Iraq, Specialist Kamisha Block's death was ruled an accident by a single shot of friendly fire before the family received the body and saw that she had five gunshot wounds, including one to the head. So when, the following spring, Fort Hood offered a $15,000 reward for information about Guillen, then raised it to $25,000 in June, Kim called to demand the same. As of October 20, 2022, 70 of 70 Fort Hood Independent Review Committee recommendations have been addressed by the U.S. Army's People First Task Force. Fort Hood officials confirmed Monday that Martinez and Mosley were assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division. There she encountered Specialist Aaron Robinson, also 20 years old but a rank above. A 214,968-acre installation, this is the only post in the United States capable of stationing and training two armored divisions. Five were murdered. "From the age of 18, the only thing I knew how to do was kill people," Ring wrote on the website of his father's veterans' rights organization. How had he managed to escapeand where had he gotten his gun? Many complained specifically of being made to cut grass to ready for such official visits. First came the British and Germans. She doesnt belong to the Army anymore, AnaLuisa Tapia, a local organizer, told me. Within days of arriving at Fort Hood, Chee's clothes were stolen. In death, she is no longer a daughter or a sister or a partner. Radically transparent, low cost versions of high cost generic drugs. Family of Fort Hood soldier demands answers after military refuses to release report on his death Chase Lawrence 4 April 2021 Seventeen months have passed since Private First Class (PFC). A few days later, they spoke again, for the last time. When Kim called Fort Hood inquiring after her son, she was told the case was the remit of the Killeen Police Department as Wedel-Morales had gone missing off base. Inside the rash of explained deaths at Fort Hood. (The person who called in with the tip declined to collect the reward. That gun safety is a distant concern in a community where the Second Amendment tops the Maslow charts. Casteel had been stationed at Fort Hood since the end of June, where hed been bullied for a spinal injury that consigned him to desk duties. They pointed glumly to past cases, some of which there were public records for and others I could find no traces of in the official files. THE GREAT PLACE. The figures coming out of the deaths at Fort Hood are depressing, as reported in Vanity Fair. The purported motto of the Army was "family first, mission second," Gary Shafer, a noncommissioned officer who served at Fort Hood from 2012 to 2018 and who knew Wedel-Morales through the car-club scene, told me. Maj. Gen. Scott Efflandt. "I guess my point is," Rodriguez told me, "if everything was 'fine,' the way Fort Hood officials would lead us to believe, then why would this soldier, out of character, leave base without permission, and [why] did he not feel comfortable enough to call his captain or anyone on that base once he was arrested for speeding? "I am astounded nobody is interested," the Fernandes family lawyer Lenny Kesten told me. Green Beret training death special forces training soldier dies in training army training . A few hours later, Robinson, who had mostly been playing video games, escaped Fort Hood by car. The wave of pain went away as suddenly as it had come on but returned again, and again, and again, over the next hour. He got home around 2 p.m. and told his wife, Gloria, about the unusual aches. From the age of 18, the only thing I knew how to do was kill people, Ring wrote on the website of his fathers veterans rights organization. The next day, Wedel-Morales failed to show up for duty, and the day after that, he was classified as absent without leave, making him one of the thousand or so soldiers who go AWOL in any given year. Maxwell Hockin. Not long after Fort Hood opened, soldiers began bringing home souvenirs in the form of war brides. "And how well will that look on your resume? Eleven of the deaths remain unresolvedsome legally; others for the victims'. When Ailina contacted the military police at Fort Hood, they told her that Fernandes was an adult, and that if he was missing, he likely didnt want to be found. It is unclear if Killeen even bothered to visit his namesake town, which, by the early 1880s, comprised 40 people living across 360 acres, mostly working in the two cotton gins, two gristmills, and two saloonsit had the most saloons, gamblers, and shootings per capita in Bell County, according to historian Martha Bowmer. Those remains, it turned out, belonged to yet another soldier, Private Gregory Wedel-Morales, who had gone missing the previous summer. Later came Koreans, Japanese, and Vietnamese, who still run sushi and pho restaurants in Killeen. More than 2,200 trials over land rights commenced. They are part of Killeen's population of 151,000, many transient and very young, two thirds of whom have military ties. A sergeant from Guillens division called it mandatory fun days. The additional scrutinythe congressional delegation visit, press toursmeant that soldiers had to work harder. That most soldiers enlist when they are still teenagers, their yet-unformed minds taught to kill. March 2, 2023 (86 years old) His wife, Christal, was denied her husband's mobile phone, the final investigation report, and even his corpse, until Texas Congressman Ron Wright stepped in on that front. Fort Hood might not even stand out were it not for a particularly bad year among many. Prepare a personalized obituary for someone you loved.. Search Fort Hood obituaries and condolences, hosted by Echovita.com. This memory now refreshed, Gloria began asking around for a name and soon learned it through Guillens friend: Aaron Robinson, the last person to have seen her daughter. In 2018, a soldier was allegedly shot and killed in her front yard by her husband at Fort Campbell, in Kentucky, which also has one of the highest rates of suicide in the Army. Just before noon, Guillen left her keys, Army ID, and bank cards in one arms room and entered another adjacent arms room, separated by a hallway. The police too told Ailina that Fernandes was an adult and that they would not report him as missing. The vast emptiness that is most of the state can make you feel inconsequential, as if you could disappear and no one would know you ever lived. The circumstances are so strange and awful that fully understanding the events can be difficult. No skid marks were apparent, nor did anyone hear the crash. (On July 14,2020, a federal grand injury indicted Aguilar on one count of conspiracy and two counts of tampering with evidence. The pursuit of happiness, or simply stability, will invariably lure people to the American military, which may be why the undocumented, the indigent, or those with a criminal record are overrepresented in its ranks. (The person who called in with the tip declined to collect the reward. First it was a five-mile run, then it was a two-mile run. Lenz's mother, Margie Taylor, said her son loved children and looked forward to having a family of his own one day. I will tell you everything, he told his mother. When his parents rushed to the hospital, they saw that Chee, lying unconscious, had bruises and scrapes on his chin and on both sides of his face. That September, Wedel-Morales, who was from rural Oklahoma, was due to be honorably discharged from the military. At first blush, such violence at a base that calls itself "the Great Place" may seem extraordinary, inexplicable even. At the Dollhouse, he got to know Penny Morales, a dancer and mother of two. Ozempic is also used by adults with type 2 diabetes who have heart and blood vessel disease to reduce their risk of a stroke, heart attack, or death . The new family, like more than 70 percent of all Fort Hood service members, lived off post, but after two dead bodies were found on their street, they moved into base housing. Fort Hood has come under serious fire in recent years, as the incident follows the heartbreaking death of Vanessa Guilln. Fernandes had just been stationed at Fort Hood in January. The stories are gruesome, then heartbreaking, then beyond belief. I have sponsored a a Change.org listing advocating renaming the post after Oveta . He was assigned to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. From here, wars are launched. "You can find Osama bin Laden, but you can't find a soldier that went missing on your own base?" The 2020 numbers add to ongoing mysteries, including a 2016 case . By Marlene Lenthang October 13, 2021, 9:15 AM 2:25 On Location: February 24, 2023 Catch up on the developing stories making headlines. The story appears in the July/August 2021 issue of Vanity Fair.I enthusiastically recommend this article. Those remains, it turned out, belonged to yet another soldier, Private Gregory Wedel-Morales, who had gone missing the previous summer. Guillen confessed that she was being harassed by another soldier. (He was found a day later.) Traveling in the time of plague, trying to build rapport with people from six feet away, was enervating. Why was Robinson not put under watch? The brutal murders of four Idaho college students shocked millions. Rodriguez disputes this claim. On August 13, Staff Sergeant Bradley Moore died during a land navigation exercise on the base. What happened on that base and in the Army to cause this person who is normally very [kind] and responsive to all of a sudden leave and shut down?, When I asked soldiers at Fort Hood what they thought was the matter on base, they mentioned toxic leadership, a catholic term that seemed to encompass all: lack of care, general command climate, and so-called toxic masculinity. Spc. WASHINGTON - The Army said Friday that it has taken disciplinary action against 21 officers and non-commissioned officers at Fort Hood, Texas, in connection with death last year of Spc.. "She is now for the movement.". The sense of dehumanizing alienation soldiers complained about was not a symptom of a malfunctioning system, it was its original design. Give me the name and I will report the bastard, Gloria told her daughter, who refused to tell her mother more for fear of worrying her, and also, Gloria later suspected, for fear of reprisal. Yes, flower arrangements are fulfilled and delivered by local florists from Fort Hood. First came the British and Germans. Before Guillen, there had been Private LaVena Lynn Johnson, who was found dead in a tent in 2005 in Iraq. Next I passed Club Dreams, where Specialist Shelby Jones was shot, bled out, and died last March; then Guns Galore, where Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan purchased a semiautomatic pistol that he would use to kill 13 people in 2009. As distressing as the remains in shallow graves or the missing hyoid bone is the fatalism from soldiers and locals alike. The family began posting online about Guillens disappearance and distributing Missing fliers. Robinson gave Guillen the serial number for a .50 caliber machine gun that needed servicing. Because what the military asks of its men and women is so antisocial, it must co-opt the rhetoric of the family. But when Kim called the police, they dismissed her, telling Kim that her son probably just "took off." The shakeup comes after after a series of suspicious deaths and disappearances that have plagued Fort Hood. No skid marks were apparent, nor did anyone hear the crash. What is behind the violence and tragedy at Fort Hood? October 13, 2021 04:48 PM. Garrison Policies and Regulations. He had messaged his sister beforehand to tell her something felt off. (Facebook) Two weeks later, Delacruz . But with each encounter, it was becoming clear that the military had not failed its soldiers at all. Rodriguez sensed something was off. It's possible. The numbers are distressing. Before Fort Hood was built, the land was used for grazing by some 3,000 farmers and ranchers, according to Gerald D. Skidmore, a Killeen historian. He got home around 2 p.m. and told his wife, Gloria, about the unusual aches. When Elisabeth Finch met Jennifer Beyer in 2019, the two women forged a fiercely loyal friendship, and eventually got married. On May 18, Brandon Rosecrans's burning Jeep was discovered in a hilly suburb east of Fort Hood. On November 5, 2009, 13 people are killed and more than 30 others are wounded, nearly all of them unarmed soldiers, when a U.S. Army officer goes on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood in central. In 2009, Nidal Hasan was an Army major when he killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others in a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. And so his disappearance was no surprise, his father told me. You can find Osama bin Laden, but you cant find a soldier that went missing on your own base? Guillens youngest sister, Lupe, says. Texas Death Records Indexes, Obituaries and Cemetery Burials by County. 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"That is the opposite of what he's been consistently saying.".