Southeast students reflect on Fort Hood
Emily Jung
Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: News
Fort Hood in Texas is the largest active duty armored post in the United States Armed Services according to their official website. It also says that it is many times referred to as "The Great Place" because of the great opportunities it offers to soldiers and their families.
However, on Thursday, Nov. 5, Fort Hood was not a "great place" to be when Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a professional psychiatrist at Fort Hood, shot and killed twelve soldiers and one civilian employee and wounded 43 others.
The soldiers were preparing to deploy to Iraq when Hasan, armed with two handguns, fired at least 100 rounds on the base, according to the website.
All over the United States people were shocked to hear about this deadly shooting. Students here at Southeast are feeling the effects.
Kent Walker, a junior at Southeast majoring in English Literature, served as a Sergeant full time in the Army from 2001 to 2005. Walker was deployed to Iraq twice in this time.
"It just didn't make sense to me," Walker said. "He had to be severely mentally ill."
Walker just couldn't understand how Hasan, being both a Major and a psychiatrist, could do such a thing.
"We are not fighting Iraq," Walker said. "We are fighting the extremists who want to cause chaos in Iraq, and Hasan took sides with these extremists."
"He had so many layers of doing good not just for the military but for mankind as a whole," Walker said. "He ruined all this for his extremist views."
Soldiers are not allowed to carry guns on base for a very simple reason.
"It is this way because we all trust each other," Walker said.
Tristan Ketterling is a senior here at Southeast majoring in Exercise Science. He is a member of the Missouri National Guard and has been for about a year and a half.
Ketterling just recently returned from training at Fort Sam Houston also in Texas near Fort Hood.
"It makes me think about what could have happened to me during my training duration," Ketterling said.
However, on Thursday, Nov. 5, Fort Hood was not a "great place" to be when Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a professional psychiatrist at Fort Hood, shot and killed twelve soldiers and one civilian employee and wounded 43 others.
The soldiers were preparing to deploy to Iraq when Hasan, armed with two handguns, fired at least 100 rounds on the base, according to the website.
All over the United States people were shocked to hear about this deadly shooting. Students here at Southeast are feeling the effects.
Kent Walker, a junior at Southeast majoring in English Literature, served as a Sergeant full time in the Army from 2001 to 2005. Walker was deployed to Iraq twice in this time.
"It just didn't make sense to me," Walker said. "He had to be severely mentally ill."
Walker just couldn't understand how Hasan, being both a Major and a psychiatrist, could do such a thing.
"We are not fighting Iraq," Walker said. "We are fighting the extremists who want to cause chaos in Iraq, and Hasan took sides with these extremists."
"He had so many layers of doing good not just for the military but for mankind as a whole," Walker said. "He ruined all this for his extremist views."
Soldiers are not allowed to carry guns on base for a very simple reason.
"It is this way because we all trust each other," Walker said.
Tristan Ketterling is a senior here at Southeast majoring in Exercise Science. He is a member of the Missouri National Guard and has been for about a year and a half.
Ketterling just recently returned from training at Fort Sam Houston also in Texas near Fort Hood.
"It makes me think about what could have happened to me during my training duration," Ketterling said.
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