I haven’t trusted Irish Catholics ever since.
If it was wrong to speculate on the shooter’s religion, perhaps we should avoid the same speculation as to the religion of his harassers.
As an MAJOR? I doubt it, unless he was crazy. Which, well, he probably was.
That’s what disturbs me, really, his age. 40 years old, plus or minus, a major (even if a medical major) and he went doolally. Yeah, I know, he’s a shrink, you should sort of expect it, but…
Well, if they’ll threaten soldiers who are athiests, it’s no stretch to think they might have a beef against someone named Khan, who certainly doesn’t sound christian.
I don’t have to speculate. I’ve been in the military. I know what the religious culture is.
Plus, I just said I could see it happening, not that I knew it DID happen.
They didn’t send him to a war zone they sent him to Ft. Hood. Which is kinda the same thing. I’m going to paint a ragther ugly picture here, and its only my opinion, but here it goes.
I’m in a similar position. My current unit is supposedly an “airborne” unit. But going to airborne school is optional. They can’t make you do it. But the command wants everyone to be airborne qualified. They’ve threatened that anyone not airborne qualified will be reassigned to another unit, and they’ve indicated that they’ll make sure its a unit that sucks to be in. Now thats a self defeating philosophy in my opinion. You’re NEVER going to get everyone in a group this large to be airbvorne qualified and threatening to send them to other units they don’t want to be in isn’t going to make anyone want to be part of your organization. Some people are just plain too scared to jump out of a plane. Some people may just be too freakin’ lazy to want to go to airborne school. Some people, like myself, have medical issues that make it unwise to go airborne. (Add to that I have 20 years in, so I can retire if I choose to, and I’m fucking 45 years old! Why would a 45 year old man without a complete thyroid, on various medications for blood pressure and a crushed nerve in his spine want to jump out of a plane? Hell, I’m tempted to do it because I don’t puss out, but man, I’m not trying to hurt myself anymore than I am now so I can enjoy whats left of my functional years.)
So (and I’m only guessing) this guy might have had superiors that for whatever reason did not like him. Or maybe he just had a bad attitude or a big mouth. Either way they decided “He’s gotta go, lets send him to Hood. Heehee…He’ll hate it!”
Thats a possibility, but please don’t take my opinion as fact.
Or he could have just drawn the short straw and ended up at hood like I ended up at Bragg. They needed a person with his qualifications. End of story. He was reassigned. I didn’t want to come here. I was perfectly happy in my last assignment but at the end of the day it was the needs of the army.
We’ll see, as more facts come out. For now lets think about the people that lost their lives and their families.
The shooter is alive! Much better is that one of the policewomen reported dead is stable.
He’s alive.
He was reportedly going to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Wow, that’s a hell of a twist. If he’s conscious or wakes up, maybe we’ll get a somewhat definitive explanation of what happened here. And the Times is reporting that Hasan’s cousin says the shooter was horrified at what he heard what going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to the harrassment.
Lt. General Coon in a press conference indicated that there are normally civilian police officers on army bases (or at least Ft. Hood) in addition to MPs. Why?
Well, the early returns from Wingnut World indicate the line will be that Obama will spare no effort to suppress the self-evident (to the wingnuts) fact that this was a case of Islamist terrorism. We’ll see tomorrow, I guess.
Haven’t heard all that many details myself, but indications seem to be that the shooter used his own personal weapons, rather than military issue, and that he was shot by civilian security guard. I surmise many people would think that on a military base, there are hordes of gun-totin’ troops everywhere, but that’s not really the case.
Gotta say, a verteran psychiatrist apparently going postal is something of a new one on me.
Yes, but most likely he did not know that until he got to Ft. Hood. Again, neither of us know for sure, and you’ve been in the military, Dio. He might have been assigned to Hood, in processed and then found out he was going to iraq or Afghanistan.
We’re all just guessing, and whatever the facts are they won’t be good. Still, I wouldn’t go on a shooting spree if i were to be deployed. Theres something more at work here. Either craziness or some kind of statement. Maybe both.
I should think just the opposite; the ilitary would want to have control over every weapon it’s personnel have access to.
I agree.
The Department of the Army maintains a civilian police force on base. I’m not sure, but I’d guess it’s as a back up for MPs that are liable to be shipped out.
There are civilian police/security on many, if not most military bases. Travis AFB, where I’m assigned, uses civilian security for most of it’s gate guards.
I’m a nurse, and quite frankly, when I heard he was a psychiatrist, my first reaction was “Oh. Well, that explains a lot.” My experience is totally my own, and anecdotal, but I can count on one hand the number of mental health professionals I’ve run across that were all there.
Haven’t read the thread, but I have a friend stationed at Ft. Hood. His wife posted to Myspace that they were not on the post and they are safe.
Does that mean they are not fit to treat patients?
A few, in my NAMHP (not a mental health professional health professional) opinion, yes. Others, dunno. Like I said, it’s not my field.