fort hood deaths 2021 list

fort hood deaths 2021 list

Not long after Fort Hood opened, soldiers began bringing home souvenirs in the form of war brides. A small minority, which bikers call one percent groups, and which the Department of Justice calls by the regrettable acronym OMG, or outlaw motorcycle gangs, were the people Wedel-Morales had been hanging around with. A group of soldiers, including Robinson, greeted them. The plan, Wedel-Morales told anyone who would listen, was to use the G.I. And on June 19, skeletal remains were found in a field behind a cul-de-sac of a residential neighborhood in Killeen. 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. Dont they care as to what happened to Elder Fernandes? Fort Hood announced that Stump had crashed his car while driving under the influence, though a toxicology report proved inconclusive. 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. 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. They are part of Killeen's population of 151,000, many transient and very young, two thirds of whom have military ties. Guillens superior confirmed she was missing. In fact, Casteel had been convinced that CIA agents were attacking him since last June. 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. After a chase along Rancier Avenue, the same street near which Lovell was found dead, Robinson shot himself and died. His mother, Kim, only heard from her son when he needed money. That American imperialism is imploding, and the blast force radiates inward. 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. 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. 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. Fort Hood informed Rodriguez that he had asked for this. They are part of Killeens population of 151,000, many transient and very young, two thirds of whom have military ties. She has become that complicated, indelible thing: a hero. Many complained specifically of being made to cut grass to ready for such official visits. At 9:30 p.m., Mayra, Cruz, Guillen's other sister Yovana, and Yovana's boyfriend set out for Fort Hood. The Idaho Murders, Part 1: How 4 College Kids Lived and Loved. He wondered if it was something he had eaten and carried on with his shift. Jennifer Anthony Lovells sister, Temple Tx. Their minds both turned to Vanessa, whose hourly texts to family members had gone silent. The U.S. Army announced Saturday that a soldier was found dead in the . All this has been true since the founding of the American military, but a sense of disorientation has increased in recent years, as wars that were never good to begin with began to lose moral shine. The tributaries that run through Fort Hood flow into the Leon River, where Guillens remains were later found. I will tell you everything." In fact, Casteel had been convinced that CIA agents were attacking him since last June. It rained that night, and the drive, which should have taken three hours, was slow going. The first week I spent in Texas that October, 22-year-old Lucas Hicks-Mack went missing on base. It was a "heartrending, searing experience," central Texas historian Gra'Delle Duncan said, "leaving lifetime marks on all, and actually killing some" from the psychic devastation that followed. 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. ), Wedel-Morales's death was not the first from the base that may have involved bike gangs. That most soldiers enlist when they are still teenagers, their yet-unformed minds taught to kill. Toxic leadership is nothing new. The base saw 26 . Five were murdered. A soldier stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, was found dead over the weekend behind a barracks, according to local media reports, adding to the rash of deaths and disappearances of soldiers. The tributaries that run through Fort Hood flow into the Leon River, where Guillen's remains were later found. Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, . Robinson himself left soon thereafter, he would testify, to spend the night off post with his girlfriend. Why hadnt the arms room been treated like the crime scene it was? Its possible. IMCOM is not responsible for the content of links outside home.army.mil. Oct 13, 2021 An official Army photo of Spc. After a chase along Rancier Avenue, the same street near which Lovell was found dead, Robinson shot himself and died. (His sons alleged killer is in custody awaiting trial.) Because what the military asks of its men and women is so antisocial, it must co-opt the rhetoric of the family. Why was Robinson not put under watch? Frantic, she called around, to no avail. At the Dollhouse, he got to know Penny Morales, a dancer and mother of two. In death, Guillen has become a kind of patron saint for all those who feel wronged by the U.S. military. Fuck Biden, Dont Tread on Me, and a Wisconsin Death Trip for Our Times. Morta's death comes amid intense scrutiny of Fort Hood in recent weeks. And on June 19, skeletal remains were found in a field behind a cul-de-sac of a residential neighborhood in Killeen. But as Beyer would soon realize, Finchs past wasnt what she claimedand Beyers own difficult history was up for the taking. 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. Nov. 30, 2022. Frantic, she called around, to no avail. At first blush, such violence at a base that calls itself "the Great Place" may seem extraordinary, inexplicable even. In January 2017, Fox News cited reports to say the Army and local police were probing deaths of 11 Fort Hood soldiers who died on and off the base in the months before under mysterious circumstances, as per reports. "That is the opposite of what he's been consistently saying.". There was a deep cut above his left eye, and cuts all over his legs. And how well will that look on your rsum?, Im 21 now, and let me tell you. 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. Amarillo - see the Potter County section below Arlington - see the Tarrant County section below Basic details of the incident kept changing. 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. 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. He joined the U.S. Army in March of 2017 as a combat engineer and had been assigned to . Hoover, Alabama. Barely a week later, Private Corlton Chee, 25, died during training. The plan, Wedel-Morales told anyone who would listen, was to use the G.I. On August 13, Staff Sergeant Bradley Moore died during a land navigation exercise on the base. All are former soldiers. 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 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. WASHINGTON - The Army said Friday that it has taken disciplinary action against 21 officers and non-commissioned officers at Fort Hood, Texas, in connection with death last year of Spc.. (He was found a day later.) "I guess my point is," Rodriguez told me, "if everything was 'fine,' the way Fort Hood officials would lead us to believe, then why would this soldier, out of character, leave base without permission, and [why] did he not feel comfortable enough to call his captain or anyone on that base once he was arrested for speeding? When Ailina contacted the military police at Fort Hood, they told her that Fernandes was an adult, and that if he was missing, he likely didn't want to be found. There, Wedel-Moraless remains had been found, long ago decomposed in the Texas heat. 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). (Facebook) Two weeks later, Delacruz . The disappearance of Vanessa Guilln, a 20-year-old soldier at the sprawling Texas Army base of Fort Hood last April, captured headlines across the world. He got home around 2 p.m. and told his wife, Gloria, about the unusual aches. 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 pleaded not guilty. I played a small role in the story by providing some background information on Confederate General John Bell Hood.. Fort Hood also stated that it had completed an exhaustive search for Fernandes, and that it had interviewed all relevant parties, including the family. He had messaged his sister beforehand to tell her something felt off. The additional scrutinythe congressional delegation visit, press toursmeant that soldiers had to work harder. September 10, 2020. 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. Today, Reform Austin is attempting to put the entire chain of events into a concise timeline for our readers. 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. After he returned to Fort Hood, Rodriguez managed to get Casteel on a video call. 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. Thirteen people were determined to have committed suicide. 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. It was also an ancient Comanche Native American burial ground, discovered when construction workers unearthed more than 2,200 grave sites in 1998. (Penny says they met online.) Rosecrans, shot four times, was found three miles from his vehicle. 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. A small minority, which bikers call "one percent" groups, and which the Department of Justice calls by the regrettable acronym OMG, or outlaw motorcycle gangs, were the people Wedel-Morales had been hanging around with. 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. Inside the rash of explained deaths at Fort Hood. 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. 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. Then they tried burning the body. Ive even lost myself. (Ring returned to base of his own accord later that day.). I guess my point is, Rodriguez told me, if everything was fine, the way Fort Hood officials would lead us to believe, then why would this soldier, out of character, leave base without permission, and [why] did he not feel comfortable enough to call his captain or anyone on that base once he was arrested for speeding? Back in Houston, Gloria recalled a conversation with her daughter not long before, when Guillen had been home for the weekend. "I felt a bad vibe there," Lupe says, referring to Fort Hood. A soft October wind carried the first chill of the season. "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. 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. It was a heartrending, searing experience, central Texas historian GraDelle Duncan said, leaving lifetime marks on all, and actually killing some from the psychic devastation that followed. 16 Apr 2021 Military.com | By Matthew Cox The Army 's People First Task Force on Friday unveiled sweeping actions underway to transform the service's sexual harassment and assault prevention. 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. So much of reporting is opening yourself up to chance, and there I was, compulsively locking and relocking the rental car door. Guillen confessed that she was being harassed by another soldier. At least 39 Fort Hood troops died or went missing last year. 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. That gun safety is a distant concern in a community where the Second Amendment tops the Maslow charts. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Red White and Blue via The US Army is licensed with CC BY-ND 2.0. 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. 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. This negates civic participation, as the state no longer needs to collect taxes and thus stops serving the people, who in turn have no need to pressure the government for anythingthe very dynamic that continues to play out in oil-rich Gulf states. ", Several days later, Rodriguez learned that Casteel had been committed to a hospital on base. Also that year, Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach was raped by her superior, which she reported. All rights reserved. I will tell you everything. Fernandes was dropped off at his friends house the next day, August 17, never to be seen again. My caution wasnt entirely unfounded. Curiously, a few hours after the officers picked up Casteel, he went silent online. 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. 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. And so his disappearance was no surprise, his father told me. Before Guillen, there had been Private LaVena Lynn Johnson, who was found dead in a tent in 2005 in Iraq. First it was a five-mile run, then it was a two-mile run. Fernandes was dropped off at his friends house the next day, never to be seen again. The Army said Friday, April 30, 2021, that it has taken disciplinary action against 21 officers and non-commissioned officers at Fort Hood, Texas, in connection with death last year of Spc.. This negates civic participation, as the state no longer needs to collect taxes and thus stops serving the people, who in turn have no need to pressure the government for anythingthe very dynamic that continues to play out in oil-rich Gulf states. Chris and Moses friends of Gregory Wedel-Morales at the site of his remains, Killeen TX. The corpse had been dead for a while, though it was impossible to determine exactly how long. 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. As soon as I get out of the hospital, I will call you. First it was a five-mile run, then it was a two-mile run. Eric Christopher Hogan and Pfc. 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. The vast emptiness that is most of the state can make you feel inconsequential, as if you could disappear and no one would know you ever lived. 2023 Cond Nast. Tributes.com is the online source for current local and national obituary news. Fort Hood Weather. Anthony Nevelle Peak Jr. Hogan, 19, and Peak Jr., 21, were both killed in a. A sergeant from Guillen's division called it "mandatory fun days." Joshua Diamond, 35, of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Pfc. The Armys own investigation found major flaws at Fort Hood, leading to the firing or suspending of 14 officials. Rodriguez sensed something was off. On August 17, Sergeant Elder Fernandes, 23, disappeared. 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. It is unclear if Killeen even bothered to visit his namesake town, which, by the early 1880s, comprised 40 people living across 360 acres, mostly working in the two cotton gins, two gristmills, and two saloonsit had the most saloons, gamblers, and shootings per capita in Bell County, according to historian Martha Bowmer. Maxwell Hockin. We believe that Every Life has a Story which should be told and preserved. Fernandes wouldnt share much, nothing about what had caused him to be hospitalized, and said that he was using an insecure base hospital line. But then certain details start illuminating the mystery: that one out of three women soldiers have experienced sexual harassment, according to a recent survey. Fernandes was dropped off at his friend's house the next day, August 17, never to be seen again. On June 30, a construction crew found shallow graves containing human remains that belonged to Guillen. "Give me the name and I will report the bastard," Gloria told her daughter, who refused to tell her mother more for fear of worrying her, and also, Gloria later suspected, for fear of reprisal. ), 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. More than 2,200 trials over land rights commenced. Thomas Berg, whose son Private Brandon Rosecrans's Jeep was found burning in May, told me not to go out after dark. The Lovell case was ruled an accident despite the fact that a rival club's biker vest, or kutte, was found hanging neatly from a tree near the crash site, while his motorcyclemirror, taillightswas found intact. In 1941, Private Felix Hall was lynched by fellow soldiers, at Fort Benning, Georgia. Last December, an internal investigation found that Fort Hood's culture, environment, and leadership resulted in women feeling "vulnerable and preyed upon," with no reliable recourse for their very real sense of duress. Without any sense of purpose, the suffering at Fort Hood had started to lose its meaning. But at Fort Hood, it sometimes seemed like mission first, equipment second, he said, highlighting the paradox of the military that in word puts the well-being of soldiers first but in deed must, by design, favor combat readiness over all else. Agamemnon demonstrates disrespect, vanity, and other lapses in judgment, the result of which is what clinical psychiatrist Jonathan Shay describes as moral injurya (i) betrayal of whats right, (ii) by someone who holds legitimate authority, (iii) in a high stakes situation. 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. Prepare a personalized obituary for someone you loved.. Search Fort Hood obituaries and condolences, hosted by Echovita.com. Rodriguez sensed something was off. There had been a few people, then it was a group run of 11. 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. 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. Congress launched an investigation of Fort Hood citing the deaths and other felonies that occurred on the fort between 2014-2019. . Why was Robinson not put under watch? That September, Wedel-Morales, who was from rural Oklahoma, was due to be honorably discharged from the military. In 1941, Private Felix Hall was lynched by fellow soldiers, at Fort Benning, Georgia. Ad Choices. THE GREAT PLACE. Since being stationed at Fort Hood in November 2016, Wedel-Morales had frequented the Dollhouse, a strip club not far from where his remains would eventually be found. 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. That psychological trauma among veterans vastly exceeds physical wounds. Guillen confessed that she was being harassed by another soldier. Sewell is the latest soldier to disappear from the base after a series of soldiers disappeared in the past few years. Vanessa Guilln, who was missing for about two months before her remains were found. Stump was going 82 mph in a 30-mph zone, the investigation report said, and had hit a tree on a mound. 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. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our. Dominic Criqui, who served in Vanessa Guillens unit, says that the training had come to feel stupid and pointless. What on earth are you training for? he asks, then answers. Maxwell Hockin, was found dead outside his company barracks on Saturday, October 9. The family began posting online about Guillens disappearance and distributing Missing fliers. Photo: US Army. He also wanted an education, and joining the Army he knew he could take care of all of that, his sister Carma Johnson says. I asked him directly if he wasnt willing to speak because of position and he signaled yes, and he said, Id rather tell you in person. , Several days later, Rodriguez learned that Casteel had been committed to a hospital on base. Failure to comply could incur fines of hundreds of dollars or other, more severe social censure. The U.S. Army on Tuesday announced the removal . Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. October 13, 2021 04:48 PM. Don't they care as to what happened to Elder Fernandes? When Ailina offered the Fort Hood authorities the contents of her son's car, including a laptop, iPad, and external hard drive, they declined to investigate further. What is behind the violence and tragedy at Fort Hood? (Fort Hood refused all official interview requests for this story, citing ongoing investigations. He died the evening of September 2. His body was mostly intact but for his hyoid, which was never found. A group of soldiers, including Robinson, greeted them. That gun safety is a distant concern in a community where the Second Amendment tops the Maslow charts. 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. Terrie Boley, whose daughter Candance became addicted to crack cocaine while serving at Fort Hood and was murdered in a motel room in 2011, told me not to drink the water. 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. I will tell you everything, he told his mother. Atop these sedimentary layers of desecration, displacement, and disorientation, the War Department set out to build a base that would go on to serve as a footnote to nearly every war in modern memoryKorea, Vietnam, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, but also Grenada, Panama, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. There she encountered Specialist Aaron Robinson, also 20 years old but a rank above. Why had it taken forensics 72 days to conduct a search of the arms room? When Ailina offered the Fort Hood authorities the contents of her sons car, including a laptop, iPad, and external hard drive, they declined to investigate further. Creating an obituary on Echovita is free. Military bases are the last piece of the homeland that soldiers see before they are deployed to fight and the first glimpse of home when they return. = Link to a nongovernmental site. Victoria a friend of Gregory Wedel-Morales at the site of his remains, Killeen TX. = Link to a CAC-required sites . A few days later, so did 21-year-old Specialist Trey Ring. Fort Worth (817) 293-8477 Laurel Land Funeral Home and Cemetery 7100 Crowley Road, Fort Worth . 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. Wedel-Morales was thrilled to become a father. That is the opposite of what hes been consistently saying.. The first week I spent in Texas that October, 22-year-old Lucas Hicks-Mack went missing on base. As many as 28 Fort Hood soldiers died in 2020, including in multiple homicides, suicides and other accidents. Rodriguez disputes this claim. -. The 20-year-old small arms specialist, then a private first class, was supposed to be off that day, so she showed up in civilian clothesblack tee, purple leggings, and a fanny pack. The story appears in the July/August 2021 issue of Vanity Fair.I enthusiastically recommend this article. Chee, like Yazzie, was a member of the Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation community, and was new to the base. I've lost so much since I've been in. The day after Guillen disappeared, Private Gavin Chambers, 21, died on base. 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.

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