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. 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. Gloria had noticed her losing weight and pressed her for why. Fernandes had just been stationed at Fort Hood in January. 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. February 26, 2023 (50 years old) View obituary. Today, Reform Austin is attempting to put the entire chain of events into a concise timeline for our readers. Guillen's superior confirmed she was missing. 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. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. But the only among the victims may be the institution that them all to. On April 29, it was Private Joshua Barnwell, 19. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. Without any sense of purpose, the suffering at Fort Hood had started to lose its meaning. Chris and Moses friends of Gregory Wedel-Morales at the site of his remains, Killeen TX. The sense of dehumanizing alienation soldiers complained about was not a symptom of a malfunctioning system, it was its original design. 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. After hours, media should call the Emergency Operations Center at (254) 287-2054 and ask for the on-call PAO. I will tell you everything, he told his mother. (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.). His body was mostly intact but for his hyoid, which was never found. The sense of dehumanizing alienation soldiers complained about was not a symptom of a malfunctioning system, it was its original design. In other battles, having lost the use of his arm and later a leg, Hood had to be strapped to a horse for combat. But the only among the victims may be the institution that them all to kill. At 9:30 p.m., Mayra, Cruz, Guillens other sister Yovana, and Yovanas boyfriend set out for Fort Hood. "I felt a bad vibe there," Lupe says, referring to Fort Hood. In 1941, Private Felix Hall was lynched by fellow soldiers, at Fort Benning, Georgia. "I asked him directly if he wasn't willing to speak because of position and he signaled yes, and he said, 'l'd rather tell you in person.' 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. Is it possible Elder killed himself ? He had messaged his sister beforehand to tell her something felt off. Ad Choices. He died in 1879, leaving a troubled legacy that is only now beginning to be questioned. 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. As distressing as the remains in shallow graves or the missing hyoid bone is the fatalism from soldiers and locals alike. Find an obituary, get service details, leave condolence messages or send flowers or gifts in memory of a loved one. A few days later, they spoke again, for the last time. Soon after, the Temple police, who led the investigation, ruled Fernandes's death a suicide. On March 5, 2020, Destanie Sawyers 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 story appears in the July/August 2021 issue of Vanity Fair.I enthusiastically recommend this article. Is it possible Elder was murdered? 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. If she wanted to pursue things further, they advised, she would have to file a missing persons report with the local police. Schuette's body was returned to his family "wrapped like a mummy." The first week I spent in Texas that October, 22-year-old Lucas Hicks-Mack went missing on base. Hoover, Alabama. 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. 60.2 (births per 1,000 women 15-44 years of age) Teen Birth Rate. Two more who had separated from. 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. 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. A U.S. Army soldier, Spc. I've lost so much since I've been in. ), Wedel-Morales's death was not the first from the base that may have involved bike gangs. Namely, the military. Ozempic is also used by adults with type 2 diabetes who have heart and blood vessel disease to reduce their risk of a stroke, heart attack, or death . Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. Sergeant Brad Reynolds, 37, killed himself on May 16. There she encountered Specialist Aaron Robinson, also 20 years old but a rank above. His mother, Kim, only heard from her son when he needed money. "She doesn't belong to the Army anymore," AnaLuisa Tapia, a local organizer, told me. That gun safety is a distant concern in a community where the Second Amendment tops the Maslow charts. Specialist Justen Ogdens death in July 2017 was ruled a suicide, but the suicide note Fort Hood produced as evidence did not match his handwriting, according to his mother, Toni. So much of reporting is opening yourself up to chance, and there I was, compulsively locking and relocking the rental car door. Why had it taken forensics 72 days to conduct a search of the arms room? When Elisabeth Finch met Jennifer Beyer in 2019, the two women forged a fiercely loyal friendship, and eventually got married. 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. Because what the military asks of its men and women is so antisocial, it must co-opt the rhetoric of the family. The discovery in 2020 of the dismembered and burned remains of Vanessa Guillen, a Fort Hood soldier who disappeared on April 22, 2020, sparked outrage from central Texas to . To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Texas Death Records Indexes, Obituaries and Cemetery Burials by County. So much of reporting is opening yourself up to chance, and there I was, compulsively locking and relocking the rental car door. Five were murdered. Shelby Tyler Jones, 20, was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound at 3:45 a.m. Sunday, March 1, 2020, outside of a convenience store on Fort Hood Street. September 10, 2020. SHARE. "And how well will that look on your resume? 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. Thirteen killed themselves. That American imperialism is imploding, and the blast force radiates inward. Vanessa Guillen. Nelda Lee Edwards. After 10 torturous weeks and growing. 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. Eleven of the deaths remain unresolvedsome legally; others for the victims' families. Fort Hood informed Rodriguez that he had asked for this. His killers were never looked for properly and thus never found. There had been a few people, then it was a group run of 11. Thomas Berg, whose son Private Brandon Rosecranss Jeep was found burning in May, told me not to go out after dark. FORT HOOD, Texas - Fort Hood officials say they do not suspect foul play in the death of 26-year-old SPC Maxwell Hockin. Specialist Justen Ogden's death in July 2017 was ruled a suicide, but the suicide note Fort Hood produced as evidence did not match his handwriting, according to his mother, Toni. Fifty six . Thirteen people were determined to have committed suicide. 24, 2021 KILLEEN, Texas Spc. Killeen itself sits on an especially brutal stretch of central Texas, along the Balcones Fault, which separates the high plains of the Hill Country to the west from the grand prairies and limestone plains of the east, and along which runs Interstate 35. A few days later, so did 21-year-old Specialist Trey Ring. On August 11, a higher-up called Fernandess mother, Ailina, to tell her that her son had not shown up for work for two days. What happened on that base and in the Army to cause this person who is normally very [kind] and responsive to all of a sudden leave and shut down? But with each encounter, it was becoming clear that the military had not failed its soldiers at all. Later Fort Hood confirmed it was for violating quarantine. (Penny says they met online.) 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. Anthony Nevelle Peak Jr. Hogan, 19, and Peak Jr., 21, were both killed in a. Bill to attend technical school in Houston to work on wind turbines or oil rigs off the coast of Louisiana. The deaths were caused by varying reasons -- gunshots, car accidents and illnesses and all the deaths were under probe. Call (254) 287-9993 or (254) 287-0106 to request a PAO escort. New Market, Alabama. 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. (He was found a day later.) These deaths confirm to many the issues reported at the post . October 13, 2021 04:48 PM. Fort Hood hurriedly put up a $25,000 reward for Wedel-Morales as well. 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. Vanessa Guilln, who was missing for about two months before her remains were found. Fernandes wouldn't share much, nothing about what had caused him to be hospitalized, and said that he was using an insecure base hospital line. Maxwell Hockin, 26, joined the U.S. Army in 2017. 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. Fort Hood announced that Stump had crashed his car while driving under the influence, though a toxicology report proved inconclusive.

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