Posted on 04/03/2014 5:17:40 AM PDT by NKP_Vet
A soldier suffering from emotional problems and dressed in combat fatigues opened fire Wednesday at Fort Hood, killing three people in a flash of violence that brought back memories of the 2009 mass shooting that left 13 dead at the Army base in Texas.
The gunman eventually killed himself, ending the carnage first reported about 4:30 p.m. But at least 16 people were wounded, four critically, in his mad rampage.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, identified the shooter as Ivan Lopez, 34. He served in Iraq for four months in 2011 and had transferred from an unnamed Texas military base to Fort Hood in February for mental health evaluation and treatment, fort commander Lt. Gen. Mark Milley said in a news conference Wednesday night.
Lopez, who was married, was being examined to determine if he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, Milley said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Combat vet?
FOX NEWS reported that although the killer had been in Iraq he had never been in combat.
It's now on the hot list of issues he has promised to resolve.
He will get to it right after Fast and Furious, Ft. Hood #1, Benghazi, the IRS.....
Lopez served for four months in Iraq in 2011. He was not wounded in action while serving overseas, but self-reported a traumatic brain injury upon his return to the U.S. “He was not a wounded warrior,” said Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, the senior officer at Fort Hood. “He was not wounded in action, to our records, no Purple Heart, not wounded in action in that regard.”
— Lopez had several mental health issues. He was taking medication and receiving psychiatric help for depression and anxiety, and was undergoing a process to determine whether he had post-traumatic stress disorder. “We do not know a motive,”
Was Bush president in 2011?
only four months?
my nephew was a Marine in Iraq in 2011. There was so little going on, he wasn't even awarded his combat ribbon.
Yes.
The real headline should be, "U.S. Army loses Second Battle of Fort Hood while inflicting no casualties on a suicidal enemy".
It will be interesting to learn about the guy; my gut feeling is that you have another marginal individual allowed into the service who required a number of waivers to enlist.
You ask a good question about recruiting. The bottom line is fewer and fewer young males are stepping up. The McCain/Palin families both produced young men who enlisted into the infantry but they are the exception. They either avoid serving entirely (Romney, Armey, Burr, Ryan, etc. families) or assure themselves an easy position nowhere near combat, usually in JAG (George P. Bush, son of Biden, son of Pataki, Adam Laxalt, etc.) There was a time when virtually all of the young males graduating out of VMI, The Citadel or Norwich had served or would serve; now I believe the number is below 15% in all three case.
exactly correct ... the shooters actions were ‘premeditated’
Which of us volunteered at Walter Reed for 7 years?
Humans are complex. Behaviors are complex. There is NEVER just one cause. Of course a simple easy answer is what most people prefer............................
My, aren’t you special.
My, aren’t you special.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/03/fort-hood-shooting-veteran-ivan-lopez-three-dead
He was a truck driver. He was taking ambein for sleep. He said he heard a loud explosion in Iraq, his health records indicate he didn’t report to the clinic complaining of problems. His performance reports indicate nothing negative about his performance. But prepare yourself for endless stories about how messed up in the head he was and the only way he could deal with his problems was shooting people because the Army made him a trained truck driver (I mean killer).
Per report, have read, he requested that position (truck driver). Enlisted, per report, as infantry.
I took offense on behalf of our many brave service persons who suffer very real brain injury and related aftereffects from high-powered explosives, which as the article I posted pointed out, can be difficult to detect when they happen, so the soldier goes right back into activity, making it worse.
Do you think the many documented cases of men and women who have come home with these injuries, cases that are being studied and analyzed biostatistically since the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, are simply having mass hysteria? Do you really think we have made no progress in understanding this condition since WWII? Or are you just an unfeeling contrarian having a fun time on the keyboard today?
May God Bless your sons and keep them safe.
Where are the records for Fort Hood gunman going on a peace and security mission to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in the mid-2000s while with Puerto Rico National Guard?
More information ... http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/report-at-least-three-fort-hood-shooting-victims-r/nfRFZ/
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