Texas: Thousands attend Fort Hood
Vigil for the Dead, Wounded
By Mary Frances Schjonberg and Pat McCaughan, November 06, 2009
|
|
|
Chaplain: 'remembering the young people who died'
|
Mourners at a prayer vigil on the evening of Nov. 6 filled a stadium at the Fort Hood Army Base near Austin, Texas, where a day earlier a gunman killed 13 and wounded 31 military and civilian personnel.
Lt. Col. Dave Scheider, an Episcopal chaplains stationed at the Texas base, said the Fort Hood community was grieving, shocked, and overwhelmed by sadness in the aftermath of Thursday's rampage.
"We're doing 24-hour operations to provide pastoral care, and grief counseling for anyone affected, particularly grieving families and first responders," said Scheider, a 22-year retired veteran who was recalled to active duty just two weeks ago.
In an interview with Episcopal News Service, III Corps World Religions Chaplain Ira Houck, an Episcopal priest from the Diocese of Bethlehem, described the scene inside the Soldiers Readiness Processing Center minutes after Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly opened fire around 1:30 p.m. CST Thursday.
Born in Virginia and a graduate of Virginia Tech, Hasan, 39, is a psychiatrist who was practicing at Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood. He was reportedly resisting a scheduled deployment to Iraq, the suggested motive for the attacks. He was shot four times during the assault and remains hospitalized.
Houck described the scene inside the center, where soldiers prepare to deploy, as raw but also strangely sacred, evoking images of the blood that sealed God's covenant with Abraham (in Genesis 15) and the redeeming blood of Christ's redemptive sacrifice.
Before entering "a roomful of frightened" survivors, he passed evidence of the carnage—bloody handprints on the wall, blood on the floor and signs that the wounded and dying had been dragged to safety by their comrades.
Inside, people were crying and paralyzed by fear. In what became 12 hours of individual and small-group counseling with medical personnel, Houck said he "was confident and felt strong because I knew that Christ was there before me and I was coming to join him."
Grieving health care providers "told stories of how soldiers dove in front of them and received bullets [so] that they wouldn't die," Houck said, adding that he learned that the gunman targeted those in uniform.
As health-care workers relieved their trauma and other chaplains and social workers joined Houck, "of course, we were all remembering the young people who died in that room."
"They were unarmed and they were there to serve the country and some of them gave their lives to protect others," Houck said. "I don't think we'll ever know who but I know that their stories still live."
Houck said he recited prayers from the Book of Common Prayer and told the people in the room "don't mad at anyone but the shooter."
He said that George Packard, the Episcopal Church Bishop Suffragan for Federal Ministries suggested the vigil's theme, "standing strong as a community of support," to the garrison's chaplain.
Packard wrote on his blog early on Nov. 6 that Fort Hood is unlike any other military base, mainly because of its size and the variety of work that goes on there.
"No other post/base (save for the Marine base at Camp Pendleton, California) gives you the impression of entering a mini-state when you drive through the front gate," he wrote.
The Army's official blog, facebook and twitter accounts acknowledged an "incredible" outpouring of support and sympathy.
The other chaplain, Scheider said he was a mile away from the shooting site, conducting a training class for chaplains and spent the next seven hours or so in lockdown.
"Everyone who was in that building was profoundly affected," he added. "There's a deep sadness for the families … it seems so horrific when it's soldier on soldier, and same country, same uniform."
It isn't the first time the town of Killeen, which surrounds the base, has been the site of a shooting. A man shot and killed 23 people in a Luby's restaurant there in October 1991.
The sprawling Fort Hood complex is home to at least 4,929 active-duty officers and 45,414 enlisted. Civilian employees total nearly 9,000 and about 25,000 people are at the complex on any given day, according to a military spokesperson.
Fort Hood is no stranger to violence. A year ago, in September, 2008, a 21-year-old 1st Cavalry Division soldier shot his lieutenant to death and then killed himself. Spec. Jody Michael Wirawan of Eagle River, Alaska, shot himself to death after killing 1st Lt. Robert Bartlett Fletcher, 24, of Jensen Beach, Fla.
The nearby city of Killeen was the scene of one of the most deadly shootings in American history 18 years ago when George Hennard crashed his truck into a Luby's Cafeteria and began shooting, killing 23 people and wounding 20.
--The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is the Episcopal News Service national correspondent.
--The Rev. Pat McCaughan is Episcopal Life Media correspondent for Provinces VII and VIII and the House of Bishops.
|
