During the day, though, it was still hot enough that if you dropped a beer bottle, the contents appeared to dry on contact. Yet instead of being taken into custody, Robinson was placed in a conference room on base, initially, it was said, for committing adultery, which is against the Uniform Code of Military Justice. But advocates for. The base might have continued to devour its soldiers had it not been for a missing soldiers family whose rage, love, and devotion would attract the attention of the media, celebrities, and later the White House, sparking congressional and military investigations. Thirteen killed themselves. 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. 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. 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. "I felt a bad vibe there," Lupe says, referring to Fort Hood. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our. 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. One of the first times she stepped onto the base, a rosary she had been carrying in the palm of her hand tore apart, its beads scattering over the concrete ground. They pointed glumly to past cases, some of which there were public records for and others I could find no traces of in the official files. Back in Houston, Gloria recalled a conversation with her daughter not long before, when Guillen had been home for the weekend. Eleven of the deaths remain unresolvedsome legally; others for the victims'. Not long after Fort Hood opened, soldiers began bringing home souvenirs in the form of war brides. FORT HOOD, Texas - Fort Hood officials say they do not suspect foul play in the death of 26-year-old SPC Maxwell Hockin. Women, who make up 17 percent of active-duty military, were doubly bereft, and the case files were awash with stories of the dead. Five were murdered. Rosecrans, shot four times, was found three miles from his vehicle. A U.S. Army soldier, Spc. ), On July 3, a fortnight after Wedel-Moraless body was found, Specialist Miguel Yazzie, 33, died at Fort Hood after his repeated requests to see a doctor were denied, according to Carma Johnson, whose brother died at Fort Hood. 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. (Penny says they met online.) As distressing as the remains in shallow graves or the missing hyoid bone is the fatalism from soldiers and locals alike. These figures eclipse American casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq in the same year. I will tell you everything. Fernandes was dropped off at his friends house the next day, August 17, never to be seen again. He wondered if it was something he had eaten and carried on with his shift. In a press statement, Fort Hood officials said Hockin, 26, was initially found unresponsive outside of the barracks and was subsequently pronounced dead. My caution wasnt entirely unfounded. On most nights, I had nightmares. Sergeant Brad Reynolds, 37, killed himself on May 16. ", Several days later, Rodriguez learned that Casteel had been committed to a hospital on base. They returned several days later to pour concrete over the remains. These figures eclipse American casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq in the same year. And on June 19, skeletal remains were found in a field behind a cul-de-sac of a residential neighborhood in Killeen. (Fort Hood refused all official interview requests for this story, citing ongoing investigations. (His sons alleged killer is in custody awaiting trial.) Ever since returning from a deployment to Iraq in February 2019shipped off two months after basic training for a nine-month tourRing had become withdrawn, developed a drinking problem, and had been arrested for drunk driving. The first week I spent in Texas that October, 22-year-old Lucas Hicks-Mack went missing on base. Thirteen killed themselves. She has become that complicated, indelible thing: a hero. Yet instead of being taken into custody, Robinson was placed in a conference room on base, initially, it was said, for committing adultery, which is against the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The suicides, which reportedly jumped by as much as 20 percent across the military last year, work out to a rate of one soldier a month. The base saw 26 . 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. (His son's alleged killer is in custody awaiting trial.) All rights reserved. Traveling in the time of plague, trying to build rapport with people from six feet away, was enervating. That American imperialism is imploding, and the blast force radiates inward. Five were murdered. Last December, an internal investigation found that Fort Hoods culture, environment, and leadership resulted in women feeling vulnerable and preyed upon, with no reliable recourse for their very real sense of duress. "From the age of 18, the only thing I knew how to do was kill people," Ring wrote on the website of his father's veterans' rights organization. Texas as of 9 July 2021; some devices had already been sold and shipped. They pointed glumly to past cases, some of which there were public records for and others I could find no traces of in the official files. Guillens superior confirmed she was missing. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers vanished or died, including 13. And so his disappearance was no surprise, his father told me. This memory now refreshed, Gloria began asking around for a name and soon learned it through Guillen's friend: Aaron Robinson, the last person to have seen her daughter. Hoover, Alabama. Last December, a Special Forces soldier and an Army veteran were found dead at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where another soldier disappeared in May and was later found murdered. Around the Guillen murals in Killeen and in Houston, I met people who had lost loved ones to the military, who felt harm done, who saw in Guillen a savior. IMCOM is not responsible for the content of links outside home.army.mil. U.S. ARMY INSTALLATION MANAGEMENT COMMAND Basic details of the incident kept changing. The corpse had been dead for a while, though it was impossible to determine exactly how long. Ive lost so much since Ive been in. Fort Hood informed Rodriguez that he had asked for this. "What on earth are you training for?" 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. The Idaho Murders, Part 1: How 4 College Kids Lived and Loved. At least 159 Fort Hood soldiers died out of combat between 2016 and last year, including seven homicides and 71 suicides, according to an analysis by The New York Times. One of the first times she stepped onto the base, a rosary she had been carrying in the palm of her hand tore apart, its beads scattering over the concrete ground. Fernandes had just been stationed at Fort Hood in January. Casteel had told Rodriguez "he was getting away from the abuse.". "He seemed weird," Rodriguez said. Is it possible Elder killed himself ? Justice for Vanessa Guillen. The deaths were caused by varying reasons -- gunshots, car accidents and illnesses and all the deaths were under probe. A 214,968-acre installation, this is the only post in the United States capable of stationing and training two armored divisions. On most nights, I had nightmares. In death, Guillen has become a kind of patron saint for all those who feel wronged by the U.S. military. A few hours later, Robinson, who had mostly been playing video games, escaped Fort Hood by car. Don't they care as to what happened to Elder Fernandes? Fort Hood soldier found dead behind barracks, investigation underway Officials identified the soldier as 26-year-old Spc. The ancient Greeks wrote epic poems on the subject, the most famous of which is the Iliad. As publication approached, it stopped responding to emails pertaining to both specific questions about individual cases as well as broader queries about the base.). Since the beginning of the year, there have been 12 Fort Hood soldiers who have vanished, died, or, in one case, turned up dead after going missing last year. In death, she is no longer a daughter or a sister or a partner. 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. Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, . There she encountered Specialist Aaron Robinson, also 20 years old but a rank above. According to officials, the deaths include seven off-duty accidents; seven suicides; one combat-related death; four homicides, one of which was on the base; two of natural causes; one that was. Eleven of the deaths remain unresolvedsome legally; others for the victims' families. Its possible. After a chase along Rancier Avenue, the same street near which Lovell was found dead, Robinson shot himself and died. Who were the soldiers who had testified to seeing Guillen leave the arms room the day she disappeared? 24, 2021 KILLEEN, Texas Spc. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. After hours, media should call the Emergency Operations Center at (254) 287-2054 and ask for the on-call PAO. Garrison Policies and Regulations. (The police opened an investigation on August 19.) Hazel Buck Blackwell, whose family lost their farm, homestead, barns, orchards, and adjoining land when the base took over, said the "closest thing might be the unexpected death of someone you loved very much." Last December, a Special Forces soldier and an Army veteran were found dead at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where another soldier disappeared in May and was later found murdered. Club Fuego where Gregory Wedel-Morales was last seen, Killeen Tx. Oct 29, 2021. He died the evening of September 2. I have sponsored a a Change.org listing advocating renaming the post after Oveta . III Corps Policies and Regulations . Remains of soldiers have been turning up around the Texas military base with terrifying frequency. These deaths confirm to many the issues reported at the post . FORT HOOD, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - U.S. Army officials at Fort Hood have identified the soldier who was found dead Saturday, Oct. 13 behind his company barracks. If she wanted to pursue things further, they advised, she would have to file a missing persons report with the local police. In death, she is no longer a daughter or a sister or a partner. (Fort Hood refused all official interview requests for this story, citing ongoing investigations. 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. Many complained specifically of being made to cut grass to ready for such official visits. Morta's death comes amid intense scrutiny of Fort Hood in recent weeks. Gloria had noticed her losing weight and pressed her for why. 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. Fort Hood had refused to list him as missing, and it was only after his then fiance, Paradise Rodriguez, posted a video on Facebook that an officer at the parish jail saw it and got into contact. I will tell you everything." Toxic leadership is nothing new. Curiously, a few hours after the officers picked up Casteel, he went silent online. Robinson himself left soon thereafter, he would testify, to spend the night off post with his girlfriend. Driving into Killeen last fall, what greeted me was a deer, roadkill, that had been severed in half, Next I passed Club Dreams, where Specialist Shelby Jones was shot, bled out, and died last March; then Guns Galore, where Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan purchased a semiautomatic pistol that he would use to kill 13 people in 2009. And being mission-ready, the perpetual vigilance it requires, ensures a kind of endless possibility of war, which in turn justifies the $740 billion annual defense budget. You can click this link to create an obituary. Without any sense of purpose, the suffering at Fort Hood had started to lose its meaning. Bill to attend technical school in Houston to work on wind turbines or oil rigs off the coast of Louisiana. 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 other battles, having lost the use of his arm and later a leg, Hood had to be strapped to a horse for combat. Eric Christopher Hogan and Pfc. Nearly 200 miles away in Houston, Rogelio Guillen was entering his fourth hour of work at a nickel-plating factory when he felt a sharp spasm in his chest. 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 Elthams Landing in Virginia and who, by todays standards, likely suffered from PTSD. The death was ruled a suicide despite the fact that the blanket stuffed around the window to hold the pipe in place had been doused in Schuettes own blood, and Schuette was found with nine stab wounds across his body, including his forearm and his left hand. The military, Rodriguez said, had known about this but had refused to treat him. By then Wedel-Morales had grown distant from his family in Oklahoma, who had not been told of the marriage. Barely a week later, Private Corlton Chee, 25, died during training. Failure to comply could incur fines of hundreds of dollars or other, more severe social censure. His killers were never looked for properly and thus never found. THE GREAT PLACE. It was ruled a suicide until her father noticed her broken nose, black eye, loose teeth, and burns on her genitals. The plan, Wedel-Morales told anyone who would listen, was to use the G.I. 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. "I am astounded nobody is interested," the Fernandes family lawyer Lenny Kesten told me. Frantic, she called around, to no avail. Within days of arriving at Fort Hood, Chees clothes were stolen. That most soldiers enlist when they are still teenagers, their yet-unformed minds taught to kill. On the night of August 19, Wedel-Morales went out to Club Fuego, located in a desolate strip mall about 10 miles east of Fort Hood. He got home around 2 p.m. and told his wife, Gloria, about the unusual aches. (Fort Hood contributed nearly $30 billion to the Texas economy in 2019, according to the Texas comptroller's office.). Oct 13, 2021 An official Army photo of Spc. Nearly 200 miles away in Houston, Rogelio Guillen was entering his fourth hour of work at a nickel-plating factory when he felt a sharp spasm in his chest. In 1941, Private Felix Hall was lynched by fellow soldiers, at Fort Benning, Georgia. The purported motto of the Army was "family first, mission second," Gary Shafer, a noncommissioned officer who served at Fort Hood from 2012 to 2018 and who knew Wedel-Morales through the car-club scene, told me. His wife, Christal, was denied her husbands mobile phone, the final investigation report, and even his corpse, until Texas Congressman Ron Wright stepped in on that front. Toxic leadership is nothing new. = Link to a CAC-required sites . On August 25, a rail worker in Temple, Texas, 26 miles east of Fort Hood, saw a body hanging from a tree across from a burned-out warehouse near the tracks. Eleven of the deaths remain unresolvedsome legally; others for the victims families. On May 11, however, Fernandes reported to Fort Hood "abusive sexual contact" from a staff sergeant, whom he alleged groped him in a supply room, according to the redacted military investigation report. But as Beyer would soon realize, Finchs past wasnt what she claimedand Beyers own difficult history was up for the taking. The day after Guillen disappeared, Private Gavin Chambers, 21, died on base. Washington CNN The Army announced Tuesday that 14 senior officers will be punished following a probe that was initiated after the murder of a soldier and several other deaths at the Army's. ), Wedel-Moraless death was not the first from the base that may have involved bike gangs. The author knocks on the doors bearing the darkest symbols, behind which lie guns, ammo, antisemitism, antiabortion dogmaand a belief in the coming civil war. 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. SHARE. At 9:30 p.m., Mayra, Cruz, Guillen's other sister Yovana, and Yovana's boyfriend set out for Fort Hood. Martinez joined the Army in April 2018 as a cannoneer, according to base officials. Is it possible Elder killed himself? I've lost so much since I've been in. 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. The additional scrutinythe congressional delegation visit, press toursmeant that soldiers had to work harder. Fort Hood informed Rodriguez that he had asked for this. On August 25, a rail worker in Temple, Texas, 26 miles east of Fort Hood, saw a body hanging from a tree across from a burned-out warehouse near the tracks. Eventually Fernandes rang from the Army hospital. Deaths of two female soldiers in Texas under investigation January 5, 2021 / 11:39 AM / CBS News Investigations are underway across Texas after two female soldiers were found dead on New. 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. October 13, 2021 04:48 PM. Hood was an unsuccessful battle commander; 400 men of his Texas Brigade died in a single fight, some would argue through incautious direction. [2] 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. Nelda Lee Edwards. Before Fort Hood was built, the land was used for grazing by some 3,000 farmers and ranchers, according to Gerald D. Skidmore, a Killeen historian. Fernandes transferred to another unit where he was called a snitch and worse. Fort Hood also stated that it had completed an exhaustive search for Fernandes, and that it had interviewed all relevant parties, including the family. The rolling, semi-arid terrain is ideal for multifaceted training and testing of military units and troops. Family of Fort Hood soldier demands answers after military refuses to release report on his death Chase Lawrence 4 April 2021 Seventeen months have passed since Private First Class (PFC). The 2020 numbers add to ongoing mysteries, including a 2016 case where a corpse's hyoid, the U-shaped neck bone typically examined to determine whether strangulation has occurred, was missing. The sense of dehumanizing alienation soldiers complained about was not a symptom of a malfunctioning system, it was its original design. Photo: US Army. There, Wedel-Moraless remains had been found, long ago decomposed in the Texas heat. I am astounded nobody is interested, the Fernandes family lawyer Lenny Kesten told me. Fort Hood might not even stand out were it not for a particularly bad year among many. = Link to a nongovernmental site. But when Kim called the police, they dismissed her, telling Kim that her son probably just "took off." Five were murdered. ", "I'm 21 now, and let me tell you. 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. Rodriguez disputes this claim. "For nothing.". He was assigned to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Barely a week later, Private Corlton Chee, 25, died during training. 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. 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. He died in 1879, leaving a troubled legacy that is only now beginning to be questioned. Driving into Killeen last fall, what greeted me was a deer, roadkill, that had been severed in half.