Sarah Lancashire Husband, Pagination Test Cases, Articles F

After 10 torturous weeks and growing. He died in 1879, leaving a troubled legacy that is only now beginning to be questioned. At first blush, such violence at a base that calls itself "the Great Place" may seem extraordinary, inexplicable even. From this inauspicious start, Killeen grew into a proper military town and is now home to six strip clubs, 18 pawn shops, 35 dollar stores, and 38 tattoo parlors. September 10, 2020. His wife, Christal, was denied her husband's mobile phone, the final investigation report, and even his corpse, until Texas Congressman Ron Wright stepped in on that front. The corpse had been dead for a while, though it was impossible to determine exactly how long. Copyright 2023 Echovita Inc. All rights reserved. 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. (Penny says they met online.) Robinson gave Guillen the serial number for a .50 caliber machine gun that needed servicing. If she wanted to pursue things further, they advised, she would have to file a missing persons report with the local police. He had been happy enough there that in February he reenlisted for an additional four years. October 13, 2021 04:48 PM. Why was Robinson not put under watch? 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. (Fort Hood does not count Moore in its official casualty list, as he was a member of the National Guard.). In 2007, also in Iraq, Specialist Kamisha Blocks 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. Reformers would say that the military had failed its men and women. Guillens superior confirmed she was missing. Many complained specifically of being made to cut grass to ready for such official visits. New Market, Alabama. 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 didnt want to be found. 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. You can click this link to create an obituary. 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. Fort Hood hurriedly put up a $25,000 reward for Wedel-Morales as well. At the Dollhouse, he got to know Penny Morales, a dancer and mother of two. 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. Five were murdered. I am astounded nobody is interested, the Fernandes family lawyer Lenny Kesten told me. In 1941, Private Felix Hall was lynched by fellow soldiers, at Fort Benning, Georgia. 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. On May 18, Brandon Rosecranss burning Jeep was discovered in a hilly suburb east of Fort Hood. Fort Hood hurriedly put up a $25,000 reward for Wedel-Morales as well. 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. Fort Bragg; which has nearly double the soldier population as Fort Hood, is reporting 24 deaths so far this year, with five of them happening in accidents, one homicide, seven from illness,. Crawford-Bowers Funeral Home 1615 South Fort Hood Road, Killeen (254) 634-2638 . Who were the soldiers who had testified to seeing Guillen leave the arms room the day she disappeared? March 2, 2023 (86 years old) The brutal murders of four Idaho college students shocked millions. He was assigned to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. So much of reporting is opening yourself up to chance, and there I was, compulsively locking and relocking the rental car door. The rolling, semi-arid terrain is ideal for multifaceted training and testing of military units and troops. He had been happy enough there that in February he reenlisted for an additional four years. 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. Fort Hood was founded in January 1942 as a training ground for tank destroyers, selected for its varied terrain. By then Wedel-Morales had grown distant from his family in Oklahoma, who had not been told of the marriage. 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. Toxic leadership is nothing new. As publication approached, it stopped responding to emails pertaining to both specific questions about individual cases as well as broader queries about the base.). Ive even lost myself. (Ring returned to base of his own accord later that day.). Women, who make up 17 percent of active-duty military, were doubly bereft, and the case files were awash with stories of the dead. Two days after Staff Sergeant Anthony Lovell, 40, disappeared in 2017, his body was found, eyes pecked clean, face split in half, in a creek off Killeens seedy main corridor called Rancier, the same street where Specialist Freddy Delacruz, 23, was shot and killed last March. Wedel-Morales was thrilled to become a father. "She is now for the movement.". (He was found a day later.) She filled out the paperwork that is the lifeblood of the Army before heading toward the arms room, a few paces away. Killeen was named after another disappointing man: Frank Killeen, an assistant general manager to the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway. Maxwell Hockin, was found dead outside his company barracks on Saturday, October 9. Maj. Gen. Scott Efflandt. At 9:30 p.m., Mayra, Cruz, Guillens other sister Yovana, and Yovanas boyfriend set out for Fort Hood. At the Dollhouse, he got to know Penny Morales, a dancer and mother of two. Fifty six . The plan, Wedel-Morales told anyone who would listen, was to use the G.I. He refused to send a selfie or get on a video chat and began using a strange and unfamiliar speech pattern. But as Beyer would soon realize, Finchs past wasnt what she claimedand Beyers own difficult history was up for the taking. If he killed himself, dont they want to know why?. Why hadn't the arms room been treated like the crime scene it was? 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. (Fort Hood refused all official interview requests for this story, citing ongoing investigations. The base saw 26 . ", When I asked soldiers at Fort Hood what they thought was the matter on base, they mentioned "toxic leadership," a catholic term that seemed to encompass all: lack of care, general command climate, and so-called toxic masculinity. He had also gotten married without telling his family, been evicted from his apartment, and stopped showing up to work. Guillen's superior confirmed she was missing. Gloria had noticed her losing weight and pressed her for why. Thirteen killed themselves. The story appears in the July/August 2021 issue of Vanity Fair.I enthusiastically recommend this article. CID and Homeland security believe the NVGs were stolen from shipping . The police too told Ailina that Fernandes was an adult and that they would not report him as missing. Five were murdered. ", Several days later, Rodriguez learned that Casteel had been committed to a hospital on base. 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. When the family exhumed his body in November 2020 for want of a second opinion, the independent autopsy revealed that the bone had in fact gone missing.) In death, she is no longer a daughter or a sister or a partner. 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. Also that year, Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach was raped by her superior, which she reported. Basic details of the incident kept changing. 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. Guillen's youngest sister, Lupe, made me promise to stay at the Marriott, a hotel she considered safer than the rest. The Idaho Murders, Part 1: How 4 College Kids Lived and Loved. On May 19, military investigators went through Robinson's phone and learned that he had called his girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, multiple times on the night of April 22, as late as 3:30 a.m., from a town 20 miles east of Fort Hooddespite his claim he had been with Aguilar that night. But when Kim called the police, they dismissed her, telling Kim that her son probably just took off. (Killeen Police stated they have no knowledge of anyone declining to investigate.) Then they tried burning the body. 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. "I am astounded nobody is interested," the Fernandes family lawyer Lenny Kesten told me. Even then, it was she who had to scare up the $3,500 in bail money, and after Fort Hood sent two officers to pick up Casteel, officials refused to share information with Rodriguez. Escorts should be arranged in advance to allow for coordination with the organization receiving coverage. 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. The corpse had been dead for a while, though it was impossible to determine exactly how long. 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. Why had it taken forensics 72 days to conduct a search of the arms room? She had also missed her standing noon call with her fianc, Juan Cruz. That psychological trauma among veterans vastly exceeds physical wounds. My caution wasn't entirely unfounded. 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. It was ruled a suicide until her father noticed her broken nose, black eye, loose teeth, and burns on her genitals. Atop these sedimentary layers of desecration, displacement, and disorientation, the U.S. War Department set out to build a base that would go on to serve as a footnote to nearly every war in modern memory. How had he managed to escapeand where had he gotten his gun? Traveling in the time of plague, trying to build rapport with people from six feet away, was enervating. ARMY-WIDE IMPLEMENTATION STATUS. Reformers would say that the military had failed its men and women. 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. 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. The U.S. Army identified a soldier found dead behind his company barracks at Fort Hood last week as 26-year-old Spc.