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Here we go again: Fort Hood shooting
- Thread starter globemaster3
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Spats McGee
Administrator
How about we not venture off into general politics and foreign policy? That's beyond TFL's intended scope.
Installation Commanding Officers have no leeway in these matters.
Actually there is no DoD or Army regulation that requires registration of any personally owned firearm with the exception of this statement;
Transient personnel and members who reside in barracks must register and store their weapons in the base armory.
And even it has a problem because normally there is no such thing as a "Base Armory", usually units down to Company Level have individual armories, at least on Army Bases.
Each Base Commander has the option of instituting such a policy, the statement below is simply false. The regulations concerning this make it clear what normal policy is, and that it's up to post commanders to determine when to deviate from normal.
Same was true when we were deployed. Policies actually prevented us from having loaded firearms. NO mags in the weapon, no chambered rounds. So, we're walking around on base with our clubs slung around our backs, showing our IDs to the Ugandan and Nigerian and Iraqi guards armed with loaded AK74s and AK47s at the DFAC, MWR, and other buildings. ***, over??!!
I saw an NCO spot one of his soldiers who had his weapon slung but it was loaded and not safe, (RED). in a PX on FOB Slayer. I watched as he had the soldier clear and safe his weapon in line for the checkout. The entire small unit was armed and possessed ammo. It is a mistake to assume that anything is universal on this subject and making universal statements are almost always universally untrue.
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leadcounsel
Moderator
"Lopez, a 34-year-old specialist, served four months in Iraq and was undergoing treatment for mental health issues."
One wonders what happened that he was only downrange for 4 months.
While it does make one wonder, PTSD can happen on day 1 in combat theaters. I'm aware of guys who were attacked and people killed on day 1 when they landed in theater, and on their last day en route to their flight, and every day in between.
We'll soon know the legitimacy of this Soldier's PTSD issues. I hope that this raises awareness to get help - real help - for PTSD sufferers. I hope this does NOT effect gun rights negatively.
I was in Iraq in 2011 and it was still dangerous. A lot of American Soldiers were killed in 2011; albeit not as many as prior years because we had largely withdrawn from the kinetic fight. But I can assure you that the US was still losing Soldiers to snipers, infiltrated bases, mortars, and IEDs. PTSD can happen for a variety of reasons.
According to this site http://icasualties.org/Iraq/ByYear.aspx
US deaths in Iraq was 54 in 2011, down from 961 in 2007 (during the surge when we had 3 times the number of Soldiers in the height of actual combat operations). Looks like about 200 +/- wounded in Iraq in 2011. So, it was still a dangerous place to be.
The appropriate thing for the military is to actually help these Soldiers. I suspect that this Soldier was getting more harassment than help from people with the attitude that he couldn't possibly have PTSD after only 4 months in Iraq, which is the adult version of bullying - which results in Columbine type situations where the bullied people snap and go on shooting sprees.
I've had clients - hardened combat infantrymen - in my office, have emotional and mental breakdowns and admit they wanted to put a gun in their mouths and end the harassment and torment from their leadership. Unless you have been there, you have no idea nor right to judge what it's like to go through either combat operations or the torment by leadership who don't care or understand or sympathize with junior Soldiers' emotional problems. They can truly be heartless.
According to this article http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/fort-hood-gunman-devastated-mother-death-article-1.1744315
His mother died and he was denied the ability to attend her funeral and was upset by this. That is the harassment I'm talking about. So, they denied him the right to go to his mothers' funeral! I just shake my head. The article goes on to say that he may have been given a 24 hour pass to attend. Seriously, a 24 hour pass to attend an international wedding in Puerto Rico?!?!? What kind of heartless monsters did he work for? What could possibly be so important in 2014 at Ft. Hood to deny this guy a week of leave (you know, that vacation time you save up for and are supposed to be able to use - yet many Soldiers are denied leave so often they lose it, like myself) for an international funeral?
This is a all-too-common tactic for the abusive leadership to deny pass/leave to attend important events like funerals, births, etc. of family members. Many of my clients reported this. Meanwhile, you know darn well that favorite Soldiers and the leaders granting the leave are able to attend. Heck, in 2008, during the Surge, my Brigade Commander went home to attend an Airborne school jump with his son who was in Airborne school. Yet, I know Soldiers during that same era denied leave to attend funerals of close family.
It touches a nerve in me too. I had a client whose dad died out of state, and he was denied a pass or leave to attend the funeral. That client ended up suicidal. He was in very very grim condition for a lot of harassment from the unit leadership. He wrote me a lengthy suicide note and emailed it to me late one night. Long story short, I reached him on the phone on the ledge of a bridge, and literally saved his life by talking him off. This was well documented.
I always took the time and effort to get them help, and get their leadership on board with the program and end the harassment.
IF, and I say IF, this investigations shows that this Soldier had PTSD and his leadership was harassing him, I would hope those leaders are fired from their positions and held legally accountable for contributing to this situation. This is all too common in the Army. This leadership failure across the Army is out of control and partly responsible.
Getting this back onto gun topics, if I were a member of the family-victims I would sue the Government for disarming otherwise law abiding citizens. This is a Constitutional right. I think that lawsuits are the only way to eliminate these gun free zones. Before people chime in about giving up rights, blah blah blah, Soldiers do technically have some rights. Freedom of some speech, although limited, and the enjoyment of most of other Bill of Rights like 4th, 5th and 6th Amendments, 14th, voting rights, etc.
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I am sure more details will come to light.
I am not sure why people have not come to realize that you didn't have to be "in combat" in Iraq to have developed some problems. I was a civilian contractor and for most of my time on FOB Falcon in 2006-2007 the incoming mortars and rockets were pretty light, one or two every few days. We did have a week or so where we frequently caught strings of 10 - 14 rounds. I managed to deal with it well enough I figure, I can't say I have any lasting mental scars. But the way things were there, that was just a coin toss, luck of the dice. But to say a guy couldn't have developed a mental issue because he "didn't see combat" is a mistake.
As for the four month deployment, it happens, sometimes guys are sent over for different reasons and assigned to units that are going to return soon so they get a short deployment. Some special units get shortened contingency deployments, they just were only needed for a short time and went over, did the job, and came home. It's hard to say and you can't read anything into it until we know more.
PTSD from what? Per MSNBC this morning, the shooter was never in combat.
I am not sure why people have not come to realize that you didn't have to be "in combat" in Iraq to have developed some problems. I was a civilian contractor and for most of my time on FOB Falcon in 2006-2007 the incoming mortars and rockets were pretty light, one or two every few days. We did have a week or so where we frequently caught strings of 10 - 14 rounds. I managed to deal with it well enough I figure, I can't say I have any lasting mental scars. But the way things were there, that was just a coin toss, luck of the dice. But to say a guy couldn't have developed a mental issue because he "didn't see combat" is a mistake.
As for the four month deployment, it happens, sometimes guys are sent over for different reasons and assigned to units that are going to return soon so they get a short deployment. Some special units get shortened contingency deployments, they just were only needed for a short time and went over, did the job, and came home. It's hard to say and you can't read anything into it until we know more.
Brian Pfleuger
Moderator Emeritus
Sorry, but this really isn't gun related anyway and we certainly don't need to go into the legality of various conflicts or amateur psychology hour.
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