(He was found a day later.) Such moral injury deteriorates social trust, which is then "replaced by the settled expectancy of harm, exploitation, and humiliation from others," resulting in despair and violence to self and to others. Anthony Nevelle Peak Jr. Hogan, 19, and Peak Jr., 21, were both killed in a. Jef Rouner. (Marine Lance Corporal Riley Schultz's death on March 15, 2019, at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, was also ruled a suicide, despite his hyoid being broken. Dominic Criqui, who served in Vanessa Guillen's unit, says that the training had come to feel "stupid" and "pointless." On April 30, 2021, Fort Hood found that Guillen had indeed been sexually harassed by a soldier, but not Robinson.). Fuck Biden, Dont Tread on Me, and a Wisconsin Death Trip for Our Times. In other battles, having lost the use of his arm and later a leg, Hood had to be strapped to a horse for combat. 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. Wedel-Morales was thrilled to become a father. 60.2 (births per 1,000 women 15-44 years of age) Teen Birth Rate. After hours, media should call the Emergency Operations Center at (254) 287-2054 and ask for the on-call PAO. On June 30, a construction crew found shallow graves containing human remains that belonged to Guillen. Fort Hood concluded Chee had died in training. This was true of many I met at Fort Hood, including press officer Major Gabriela Thompson, my tour guide on base, who told me she joined to pay off her student loans: It was my ticket out, she said, echoing other soldiers sentiments about how the military had rescued them from hardscrabble existences. At first, Aguilar told investigators, they cut her up using a machete. Terrie Boley, whose daughter Candance became addicted to crack cocaine while serving at Fort Hood and was murdered in a motel room in 2011, told me not to drink the water. Dont they care as to what happened to Elder Fernandes? They are part of Killeens population of 151,000, many transient and very young, two thirds of whom have military ties. Thomas Berg, whose son Private Brandon Rosecrans's Jeep was found burning in May, told me not to go out after dark. Despite 10,000 hours of investigation and 300 interviews, much about Guillens death remained a mystery. In death, Guillen has become a kind of patron saint for all those who feel wronged by the U.S. military. Had one of them stood in for Guillen during roll call? "And how well will that look on your resume? 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. 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. 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 2020 numbers add to ongoing mysteries, including a 2016 case where a corpses hyoid, the U-shaped neck bone typically examined to determine whether strangulation has occurred, was missing. (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.). He had messaged his sister beforehand to tell her something felt off. Texas as of 9 July 2021; some devices had already been sold and shipped. If not, what explained the false accounting? First came the British and Germans. The shakeup comes after after a series of suspicious deaths and disappearances that have plagued Fort Hood. My caution wasn't entirely unfounded. Joel Leal 12:18 PM, Oct 11, 2022 . I've even lost myself." The rolling, semi-arid terrain is ideal for multifaceted training and testing of military units and troops. Through social media posts, court records, and other primary sources, author Kathleen Hale forensically reconstructs their lives before the crime, and the night they were killed. There was a deep cut above his left eye, and cuts all over his legs. Fernandes was dropped off at his friend's house the next day, August 17, never to be seen again. Call (254) 287-9993 or (254) 287-0106 to request a PAO escort. "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? The discovery in 2020 of the dismembered and burned remains of Vanessa Guillen, a Fort Hood soldier who disappeared on April 22, 2020, sparked outrage from central Texas to . "What on earth are you training for?" Five were murdered. He ultimately murdered her when she was eight months pregnant, then set her on fire before fleeing to Mexico. That morning, Guillen had left her third-floor barracks and headed downstairs to her work station at the motor pool, a vast garage for military vehicles. III Corps Policies and Regulations . (Fort Hood refused all official interview requests for this story, citing ongoing investigations. The search party arrived at Fort Hood at 3 a.m. Guillen's staff sergeant told the group to come back in the morning. The disappearance of Vanessa Guilln, a 20-year-old soldier at the sprawling Texas Army base of Fort Hood last April, captured headlines across the world. THE MURDERS AT FORT HOOD Remains of soldiers have been turning up around the Texas military base with terrifying frequency. Why hadnt the arms room been treated like the crime scene it was? They are part of Killeen's population of 151,000, many transient and very young, two thirds of whom have military ties. Despite 10,000 hours of investigation and 300 interviews, much about Guillen's death remained a mystery. His mother, Kim, only heard from her son when he needed money. She had also missed her standing noon call with her fianc, Juan Cruz. When Ailina offered the Fort Hood authorities the contents of her sons car, including a laptop, iPad, and external hard drive, they declined to investigate further. He seemed weird, Rodriguez said. At first blush, such violence at a base that calls itself "the Great Place" may seem extraordinary, inexplicable even. Lenz's mother, Margie Taylor, said her son loved children and looked forward to having a family of his own one day. Fort Hood informed Rodriguez that he had asked for this. THE GREAT PLACE. The military is necessarily an institution of state-sanctioned violence, where we teach our young to kill on our behalf in the name of ideologies such as patriotism or democracy. American military bases, once established, seldom shutter, and Fort Hood, which started operating during World War II, has remained open for business, its 218,000 acres spreading across two counties in central Texas near an otherwise unremarkable town called Killeen. First came the British and Germans. During the day, though, it was still hot enough that if you dropped a beer bottle, the contents appeared to dry on contact. Later came Koreans, Japanese, and Vietnamese, who still run sushi and pho restaurants in Killeen. "She doesn't belong to the Army anymore," AnaLuisa Tapia, a local organizer, told me. September 10, 2020. 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.. (Ring returned to base of his own accord later that day.). But when Kim called the police, they dismissed her, telling Kim that her son probably just "took off." They returned several days later to pour concrete over the remains. 24, 2021 KILLEEN, Texas Spc. A soft October wind carried the first chill of the season. Copyright 2023 Echovita Inc. All rights reserved. Fort Hood Weather. 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. 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. "None of the messages added up, nor were they how he usually speaks to me," Rodriguez told me. Namely, the military. On August 17, Sergeant Elder Fernandes, 23, disappeared. Maxwell Hockin, 26, was. A young soldier found dead at Fort Hood has been identified, but his cause of death remains hidden. Here are some of the tragic deaths that have plagued the base in recent months: Pvt. In the same week, Private Edward Casteel, who had been missing from Fort Hood since October 6, was found in a parish jail in Louisiana, arrested after a high-speed chase. The base was named after John Bell Hood, a Confederate general from a family that enslaved people in Kentucky, who made his name by breaking a Union line at Eltham's Landing in Virginia and who, by today's standards, likely suffered from PTSD. His killers were never looked for properly and thus never found. On August 13, Staff Sergeant Bradley Moore died during a land navigation exercise on the base. In other battles, having lost the use of his arm and later a leg, Hood had to be strapped to a horse for combat. That gun safety is a distant concern in a community where the Second Amendment tops the Maslow charts. Morta's death comes amid intense scrutiny of Fort Hood in recent weeks. Later Fort Hood confirmed it was for violating quarantine. A few hours later, Robinson, who had mostly been playing video games, escaped Fort Hood by car. On March 5, 2020, Destanie Sawyers five-year-old daughter found her father, Specialist Christopher Sawyer, 29, after he had shot himself dead in the bedroom of their Fort Hood housing. That American imperialism is imploding, and the blast force radiates inward. Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, . And so his disappearance was no surprise, his father told me. American military bases, once established, seldom shutter, and Fort Hood, which started operating during World War II, has remained open for business, its 218,000 acres spreading across two counties in central Texas near an otherwise unremarkable town called Killeen. The small Texas frontier town was also a hotbed of Klan activity, according to Texas historian Gene Preuss of the University of Houston, so much so that when trains stopped in Killeen, Black passengersrelegated to colored carsknew to pull down their window shades to avoid a pelting with rocks by locals. Toxic leadership is nothing new. No skid marks were apparent, nor did anyone hear the crash. Atop these sedimentary layers of desecration, displacement, and disorientation, the War Department set out to build a base that would go on to serve as a footnote to nearly every war in modern memoryKorea, Vietnam, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, but also Grenada, Panama, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Crawford-Bowers Funeral Home 1615 South Fort Hood Road, Killeen (254) 634-2638 . The search party arrived at Fort Hood at 3 a.m. Guillens staff sergeant told the group to come back in the morning. The 20-year-old small arms specialist, then a private first class, was supposed to be off that day, so she showed up in civilian clothesblack tee, purple leggings, and a fanny pack. Gloria had noticed her losing weight and pressed her for why. Jennifer Anthony Lovells sister, Temple Tx. The plan, Wedel-Morales told anyone who would listen, was to use the G.I. It was a "heartrending, searing experience," central Texas historian Gra'Delle Duncan said, "leaving lifetime marks on all, and actually killing some" from the psychic devastation that followed. Casteel had told Rodriguez "he was getting away from the abuse.". From this inauspicious start, Killeen grew into a proper military town and is now home to six strip clubs, 18 pawn shops, 35 dollar stores, and 38 tattoo parlors. That most soldiers enlist when they are still teenagers, their yet-unformed minds taught to kill. The Times found 159 noncombat deaths of Fort Hood soldiers since the beginning of 2016, which included seven homicides and 71 suicides. Chee, like Yazzie, was a member of the Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation community, and was new to the base. It was unclear, in 2020, what American soldiers were fighting for. The day after Guillen disappeared, Private Gavin Chambers, 21, died on base. Driving into Killeen last fall, what greeted me was a deer, roadkill, that had been severed in half. Soon after, the Temple police, who led the investigation, ruled Fernandess death a suicide. Prepare a personalized obituary for someone you loved.. Search Fort Hood obituaries and condolences, hosted by Echovita.com. Eleven of the deaths remain unresolvedsome legally; others for the victims families. 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. More than 90 lawmakers earlier this month called for an independent review of how the Army handled the disappearance of Spc. He joined the U.S. Army in March of 2017 as a combat engineer and had been assigned to . Fort Hood is one of 800 United States military bases around the world, the third largest in the country. The coming months brought the suicides of Staff Sergeant Richard Harrington, 45, and then Specialist James Green, 23. I've lost brothers and sisters in arms, a marriage, I've lost family, I've lost friendships that were supposed to be forever. There had been a few people, then it was a group run of 11. Back in Houston, Gloria recalled a conversation with her daughter not long before, when Guillen had been home for the weekend.