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. 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. Specialist Vanessa Guillens father, Rogelio, wondered if I shouldnt carry a gun. 5.2 (infant deaths per 1,000 live births) Life Expectancy (at Birth) 76.5 years (2020) Marriage Rate. After he returned to Fort Hood, Rodriguez managed to get Casteel on a video call. He had then driven the body to the Leon River and had come back to pick Aguilar up from the gas station where she worked on Veterans Memorial Boulevard, five miles east of Fort Hood. Sergeant Brad Reynolds, 37, killed himself on May 16. Even then, it was she who had to scare up the $3,500 in bail money, and after Fort Hood sent two officers to pick up Casteel, officials refused to share information with Rodriguez. But then certain details start illuminating the mystery: that one out of three women soldiers have experienced sexual harassment, according to a recent survey. 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. Toxic leadership is nothing new. Fuck Biden, Dont Tread on Me, and a Wisconsin Death Trip for Our Times. Beyond the base, gas station attendants and restaurant servers, many of whom were veterans or had ties to the military, all seemed resigned to certain fates. The base saw 26 . The stories are gruesome, then heartbreaking, then beyond belief. Subscribers have complete access to the archive. Later Fort Hood confirmed it was for violating quarantine. Failure to comply could incur fines of hundreds of dollars or other, more severe social censure. The base might have continued to devour its soldiers had it not been for a missing soldier's family whose rage, love, and devotion would attract the attention of the media, celebrities, and later the White House, sparking congressional and military investigations. The Idaho Murders, Part 1: How 4 College Kids Lived and Loved. 6 min read. Hood was an unsuccessful battle commander; 400 men of his Texas Brigade died in a single fight, some would argue through incautious direction. Barely a week later, Private Corlton Chee, 25, died during training. The circumstances are so strange and awful that fully understanding the events can be difficult. Visit this link to create a free obituary then read the advantages of creating an obituary on Echovita and either click Start now or Create an obituary for your loved to begin. Fort Hood might not even stand out were it not for a particularly bad year among many. 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. First came the British and Germans. Fort Hood soldier found dead behind barracks, investigation underway Officials identified the soldier as 26-year-old Spc. 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. Anthony Nevelle Peak Jr. Hogan, 19, and Peak Jr., 21, were both killed in a. Highway renamed & dedicated to late Fort Hood soldier . 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. On June 30, a construction crew found shallow graves containing human remains that belonged to Guillen. Eric Christopher Hogan and Pfc. May Jeong has written an in-depth analysis of the rash of unexplained deaths at Fort Hood. The brutal murders of four Idaho college students shocked millions. His killers were never looked for properly and thus never found. Amid all those other deaths, on June 21, 2020, a search party found the charred lid of a cargo box along the Leon River 20 miles east of Fort Hood. 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. Maxwell Hockin. At least 39 Fort Hood troops died or went missing last year. She is now for the movement.. (Ring returned to base of his own accord later that day.). The ancient Greeks wrote epic poems on the subject, the most famous of which is the Iliad. On March 5, 2020, Destanie Sawyer's 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. The ancient Greeks wrote epic poems on the subject, the most famous of which is the Iliad. Mayra wept during the journey, already fearing the worst. ), Wedel-Morales's death was not the first from the base that may have involved bike gangs. 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,. The day after Guillen disappeared, Private Gavin Chambers, 21, died on base. On May 19, military investigators went through Robinsons phone and learned that he had called his girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, multiple times on the night of April 22, as late as 3:30 a.m., from a town 20 miles east of Fort Hooddespite his claim he had been with Aguilar that night. The area, east of Killeen, was built on 109,000 acres of high bluffs, ridges, sharp slopes, and mesa-like hills covered with mesquite and chaparral. 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. As distressing as the remains in shallow graves or the missing hyoid bone is the fatalism from soldiers and locals alike. A sergeant from Guillen's division called it "mandatory fun days." During the day, though, it was still hot enough that if you dropped a beer bottle, the contents appeared to dry on contact. Wedel-Morales was thrilled to become a father. The story appears in the July/August 2021 issue of Vanity Fair.I enthusiastically recommend this article. And on June 19, skeletal remains were found in a field behind a cul-de-sac of a residential neighborhood in Killeen. They checked into a nearby hotel and returned at 8 a.m. the next day. A group of soldiers, including Robinson, greeted them. 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. When the family exhumed his body in November 2020 for want of a second opinion, the independent autopsy revealed that the bone had in fact gone missing.) Also that year, Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach was raped by her superior, which she reported. Amarillo - see the Potter County section below Arlington - see the Tarrant County section below Later the same day, at 8:30 p.m., Aaron Robinson's girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, changed her story and told Army investigators that Robinson had confessed to her that he killed Guillen in the arms room, beating her to death with a hammer. Spc. Eleven of the deaths remain unresolvedsome legally; others for the victims'. Green Beret training death special forces training soldier dies in training army training . Staff Sergeant Devin Schuette was found dead in his pickup truck, fitted with a hose running from the exhaust pipe to the cabin, in January 2016. Without any sense of purpose, the suffering at Fort Hood had started to lose its meaning. Reformers would say that the military had failed its men and women. Back in Houston, Gloria recalled a conversation with her daughter not long before, when Guillen had been home for the weekend. In fact, Casteel had been convinced that CIA agents were attacking him since last June. Specialist Vanessa Guillen's father, Rogelio, wondered if I shouldn't carry a gun. Later the same day, at 8:30 p.m., Aaron Robinsons girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, changed her story and told Army investigators that Robinson had confessed to her that he killed Guillen in the arms room, beating her to death with a hammer. Reformers would say that the military had failed its men and women. He had also gotten married without telling his family, been evicted from his apartment, and stopped showing up to work. 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. No skid marks were apparent, nor did anyone hear the crash. On August 11, a higher-up called Fernandes's mother, Ailina, to tell her that her son had not shown up for work for two days. She had also missed her standing noon call with her fianc, Juan Cruz. Tributes.com is the online source for current local and national obituary news. The coming months brought the suicides of Staff Sergeant Richard Harrington, 45, and then Specialist James Green, 23. Maxwell Hockin, was found dead outside his company barracks on Saturday, October 9. Memorial that now stands at the site Vanessa Guillen's remains were found in Killen, Texas. Then they tried burning the body. There had been a few people, then it was a group run of 11. The additional scrutinythe congressional delegation visit, press toursmeant that soldiers had to work harder. Had one of them stood in for Guillen during roll call? Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Texan sentenced to 20 years following drug-related death of Fort Hood soldier. On May 19, military investigators went through Robinson's phone and learned that he had called his girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, multiple times on the night of April 22, as late as 3:30 a.m., from a town 20 miles east of Fort Hooddespite his claim he had been with Aguilar that night. His mother, Kim, only heard from her son when he needed money. Schuettes body was returned to his family wrapped like a mummy. Later that year, Private Dakota Lee Stump left his barracks to report for work less than a mile away but never arrived for formation. Two days after Staff Sergeant Anthony Lovell, 40, disappeared in 2017, his body was found, eyes pecked clean, face split in half, in a creek off Killeens seedy main corridor called Rancier, the same street where Specialist Freddy Delacruz, 23, was shot and killed last March. 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. 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. Wedel-Morales was thrilled to become a father. After the public remonstrations began, Fort Hood launched something it called Operation Phantom Action, a weeklong retreat of sorts that was meant to rebuild trust between soldiers and the leadership. From here, wars are launched. Later came Koreans, Japanese, and Vietnamese, who still run sushi and pho restaurants in Killeen. Failure to comply could incur fines of hundreds of dollars or other, more severe social censure. Why had it taken forensics 72 days to conduct a search of the arms room? First came the British and Germans. He got home around 2 p.m. and told his wife, Gloria, about the unusual aches. He joined the U.S. Army in March of 2017 as a combat engineer and had been assigned to . Bill to attend technical school in Houston to work on wind turbines or oil rigs off the coast of Louisiana. Traveling in the time of plague, trying to build rapport with people from six feet away, was enervating. He had been happy enough there that in February he reenlisted for an additional four years. Jef Rouner. By then, the Army, it seemed, had stopped providing Wedel-Morales with a sense of purpose, and he had turned to alternate sources of meaning, namely car and motorcycle clubs, and life beyond the base. 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. Despite 10,000 hours of investigation and 300 interviews, much about Guillen's death remained a mystery. A few days later, they spoke again, for the last time. 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. She has become that complicated, indelible thing: a hero. The corpse had been dead for a while, though it was impossible to determine exactly how long. His body was found nearly a month later, two miles from the barracks. But as Beyer would soon realize, Finchs past wasnt what she claimedand Beyers own difficult history was up for the taking. And yet: The data is not really out of the ordinary for U.S. military bases. Fort Hood is one of 800 United States military bases around the world, the third largest in the country. If she wanted to pursue things further, they advised, she would have to file a missing persons report with the local police. (The police opened an investigation on August 19.) Lenz was found dead at Fort Hood on Feb. 1. 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. Vanessa Guillen and a number of other soldiers at Fort Hood sparked outrage across the country, leading to an independent review of the command climate and culture on the military post. A group of soldiers, including Robinson, greeted them. First it was a five-mile run, then it was a two-mile run. On August 17, Sergeant Elder Fernandes, 23, disappeared. Those remains, it turned out, belonged to yet another soldier, Private Gregory Wedel-Morales, who had gone missing the previous summer. Killeen was named after another disappointing man: Frank Killeen, an assistant general manager to the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. It was unclear, in 2020, what American soldiers were fighting for. The soldiers said that Guillens belongings had been found in the arms room, but otherwise she had left no trace. Guillen confessed that she was being harassed by another soldier. Guillen's youngest sister, Lupe, made me promise to stay at the Marriott, a hotel she considered safer than the rest. That gun safety is a distant concern in a community where the Second Amendment tops the Maslow charts. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. The back-to-back deaths come just four months after two congressional committees launched probes into the high number of deaths at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, in 2020, highlighted by the . There were no Black residents in town until the early 1950s. (His son's alleged killer is in custody awaiting trial.) His body was mostly intact but for his hyoid, which was never found. Dominic Criqui, who served in Vanessa Guillen's unit, says that the training had come to feel "stupid" and "pointless." = Link to a nongovernmental site. In 2007, also in Iraq, Specialist Kamisha Blocks 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. (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.). She doesnt belong to the Army anymore, AnaLuisa Tapia, a local organizer, told me. The area, east of Killeen, was built on 109,000 acres of high bluffs, ridges, sharp slopes, and mesa-like hills covered with mesquite and chaparral. You can click this link to create an obituary. US Army Since then, Vanessa's family and their attorney Natalie Khawam have tried to shine a spotlight on a string of deaths at the central Texas installation. In death, she is no longer a daughter or a sister or a partner. Barely a week later, Private Corlton Chee, 25, died during training. The wave of pain went away as suddenly as it had come on but returned again, and again, and again, over the next hour. Alvis Franklin Bentley. Most of the groups were aboveboard, even as they were ruled by certain strictures for meeting attendance, dress code, and how to appropriately signal respect. Fort Hood announced that Stump had crashed his car while driving under the influence, though a toxicology report proved inconclusive. Call (254) 287-9993 or (254) 287-0106 to request a PAO escort. Rosecrans, shot four times, was found three miles from his vehicle. Photo: US Army. Many complained specifically of being made to cut grass to ready for such official visits. All rights reserved. But the only among the victims may be the institution that them all to. The tributaries that run through Fort Hood flow into the Leon River, where Guillens remains were later found. Remains of soldiers have been turning up around the Texas military base with terrifying frequency. Without any sense of purpose, the suffering at Fort Hood had started to lose its meaning. None of the grunts I spoke to was surprised by the number of casualties. But with each encounter, it was becoming clear that the military had not failed its soldiers at all. Oct 13, 2021 An official Army photo of Spc. In 2020 alone, 31. At the Dollhouse, he got to know Penny Morales, a dancer and mother of two. That an overwhelming majority of the towns economy comes from Fort Hood makes Killeen a kind of rentier state, in that most of its revenue comes through a foreign entity, which historically has led to the collapse of domestic industries, leading to increased dependence on a single source of income. 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. Fernandes was dropped off at his friend's house the next day, August 17, never to be seen again. So much of reporting is opening yourself up to chance, and there I was, compulsively locking and relocking the rental car door. You can find Osama bin Laden, but you cant find a soldier that went missing on your own base? Guillens youngest sister, Lupe, says. Why hadnt the arms room been treated like the crime scene it was? Yes, flower arrangements are fulfilled and delivered by local florists from Fort Hood. The U.S. Army on Tuesday announced the removal . I have sponsored a a Change.org listing advocating renaming the post after Oveta . Within days of arriving at Fort Hood, Chee's clothes were stolen. New Market, Alabama. Why hadn't the arms room been treated like the crime scene it was? That most soldiers enlist when they are still teenagers, their yet-unformed minds taught to kill. (On July 14, 2020, a federal grand injury indicted Aguilar on one count of conspiracy and two counts of tampering with evidence.
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