He wondered if it was something he had eaten and carried on with his shift. Also that year, Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach was raped by her superior, which she reported. Ive lost brothers and sisters in arms, a marriage, Ive lost family, Ive lost friendships that were supposed to be forever. The coming months brought the suicides of Staff Sergeant Richard Harrington, 45, and then Specialist James Green, 23. ARMY-WIDE IMPLEMENTATION STATUS. And yet: The data is not really out of the ordinary for U.S. military bases. You can find Osama bin Laden, but you cant find a soldier that went missing on your own base? Guillens youngest sister, Lupe, says. Inside the rash of explained deaths at Fort Hood. (The police opened an investigation on August 19.) Washington CNN The Army announced Tuesday that 14 senior officers will be punished following a probe that was initiated after the murder of a soldier and several other deaths at the Army's. Back in Houston, Gloria recalled a conversation with her daughter not long before, when Guillen had been home for the weekend. On November 5, 2009, 13 people are killed and more than 30 others are wounded, nearly all of them unarmed soldiers, when a U.S. Army officer goes on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood in central. Far from itthe military was operating as it had been intended. Guillen's youngest sister, Lupe, made me promise to stay at the Marriott, a hotel she considered safer than the rest. (Fort Hood does not count Moore in its official casualty list, as he was a member of the National Guard.). Robinson gave Guillen the serial number for a .50 caliber machine gun that needed servicing. Rodriguez disputes this claim. Tributes.com is the online source for current local and national obituary news. Women, who make up 17 percent of active-duty military, were doubly bereft, and the case files were awash with stories of the dead. 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. First it was a five-mile run, then it was a two-mile run. Without any sense of purpose, the suffering at Fort Hood had started to lose its meaning. Photo: US Army. So much of reporting is opening yourself up to chance, and there I was, compulsively locking and relocking the rental car door. Toxic leadership is nothing new. 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. She pleaded not guilty. (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.). If not, what explained the false accounting? 60.2 (births per 1,000 women 15-44 years of age) Teen Birth Rate. The military, Rodriguez said, had known about this but had refused to treat him. 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. 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. Fort Hood announced that Stump had crashed his car while driving under the influence, though a toxicology report proved inconclusive. 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. Because what the military asks of its men and women is so antisocial, it must co-opt the rhetoric of the family. On most nights, I had nightmares. Nov. 30, 2022. His body was mostly intact but for his hyoid, which was never found. October 14, 2021 Ryan Morgan. Why had it taken forensics 72 days to conduct a search of the arms room? 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. He seemed weird, Rodriguez said. 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. It was unclear, in 2020, what American soldiers were fighting for. Chee had joined the military in part to support the young family he was starting with his high school sweetheart turned fiance. 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.. Texas Death Records, 1890-1976 includes scanned copies of the death certificates Texas Death Records, 1977-1986 includes digitized copies of the death certificates; not yet complete. Fifty six . ), 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. The family began posting online about Guillen's disappearance and distributing "Missing" fliers. They married in May 2017, and he took her name with hyphenation. October 13, 2021 04:48 PM. (On July 14, 2020, a federal grand injury indicted Aguilar on one count of conspiracy and two counts of tampering with evidence. 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. Women, who make up 17 percent of active-duty military, were doubly bereft, and the case files were awash with stories of the dead. Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now. Yes, flower arrangements are fulfilled and delivered by local florists from Fort Hood. (Among 1.29 million members of the U.S. military, 65,000 are immigrants, according to The Washington Post.) Why was Robinson not put under watch? Martinez joined the Army in April 2018 as a cannoneer, according to base officials. Fort Hood informed Rodriguez that he had asked for this. At first blush, such violence at a base that calls itself the Great Place may seem extraordinary, inexplicable even. The numbers are distressing. Gloria had noticed her losing weight and pressed her for why. She pleaded not guilty. They are part of Killeen's population of 151,000, many transient and very young, two thirds of whom have military ties. FORT HOOD, Texas - Fort Hood officials say they do not suspect foul play in the death of 26-year-old SPC Maxwell Hockin. Basic details of the incident kept changing. 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). Ever since returning from a deployment to Iraq in February 2019shipped off two months after basic training for a nine-month tourRing had become withdrawn, developed a drinking problem, and had been arrested for drunk driving. Fuck Biden, Dont Tread on Me, and a Wisconsin Death Trip for Our Times. 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. He joined the U.S. Army in March of 2017 as a combat engineer and had been assigned to . Gloria had noticed her losing weight and pressed her for why. The next day, Wedel-Morales failed to show up for duty, and the day after that, he was classified as absent without leave, making him one of the thousand or so soldiers who go AWOL in any given year. Is it possible Elder was murdered? 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. Police reopen case into Fort Hood soldier's death Austin December 25, 2022 Weather View Your 7-Day Forecast Here MILITARY Family hopeful for answers after police reopen case into Fort Hood soldier's death By Olivia Levada Texas PUBLISHED 4:24 PM CT Apr. In fact, Casteel had been convinced that CIA agents were attacking him since last June. Staff Sergeant Devin Schuette was found dead in his pickup truck, fitted with a hose running from the exhaust pipe to the cabin, in January 2016. Army investigating after soldier, 26, found dead in latest in string of unexplained deaths at Fort Hood barracks Fort Hood officials have not released the cause of death for Maxwell. 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. Sewell is the latest soldier to disappear from the base after a series of soldiers disappeared in the past few years. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. Fort Hood is the Army's premier installation to train and deploy heavy forces. Lenz was found dead at Fort Hood on Feb. 1. The very next day, a Fort Hood investigation concluded that Fernandess charges of sexual assault were unsubstantiated. All are former soldiers. (Fort Hood contributed nearly $30 billion to the Texas economy in 2019, according to the Texas comptroller's office.). That most soldiers enlist when they are still teenagers, their yet-unformed minds taught to kill. In death, Guillen has become a kind of patron saint for all those who feel wronged by the U.S. military. Hoover, Alabama. . The tributaries that run through Fort Hood flow into the Leon River, where Guillen's remains were later found. The first week I spent in Texas that October, 22-year-old Lucas Hicks-Mack went missing on base. Far from itthe military was operating as it had been intended. Had anyone helped Robinson clean up Guillen's murder in those 40 minutes? None of the messages added up, nor were they how he usually speaks to me, Rodriguez told me. ), Wedel-Moraless death was not the first from the base that may have involved bike gangs. Eventually Fernandes rang from the Army hospital. Namely, the military. 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. Staff Sergeant Devin Schuette was found dead in his pickup truck, fitted with a hose running from the exhaust pipe to the cabin, in January 2016. Later the same day, at 8:30 p.m., Aaron Robinson's 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. Radically transparent, low cost versions of high cost generic drugs. Barely a week later, Private Corlton Chee, 25, died during training. In other battles, having lost the use of his arm and later a leg, Hood had to be strapped to a horse for combat. ", 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. 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. He got home around 2 p.m. and told his wife, Gloria, about the unusual aches. The day after Guillen disappeared, Private Gavin Chambers, 21, died on base. 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. In 1941, Private Felix Hall was lynched by fellow soldiers, at Fort Benning, Georgia. We believe that Every Life has a Story which should be told and preserved. Maxwell Hockin, the Central . Chee, like Yazzie, was a member of the Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation community, and was new to the base. Who were the soldiers who had testified to seeing Guillen leave the arms room the day she disappeared? The corpse had been dead for a while, though it was impossible to determine exactly how long. He told his sister there were three white soldiers who did not like him. On August 28, Chee was called into a training run. And yet: The data is not really out of the ordinary for U.S. military bases. Wedel-Morales was thrilled to become a father. 6 min read. In other battles, having lost the use of his arm and later a leg, Hood had to be strapped to a horse for combat. The shakeup comes after after a series of suspicious deaths and disappearances that have plagued Fort Hood. Later, Robinson would tell investigators that Guillen completed her task and exited the building. The exact cause of Hockin's death remains unclear . He ultimately murdered her when she was eight months pregnant, then set her on fire before fleeing to Mexico. 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. Why had it taken forensics 72 days to conduct a search of the arms room? Fernandes was dropped off at his friend's house the next day, August 17, never to be seen again. First came the British and Germans. Red White and Blue via The US Army is licensed with CC BY-ND 2.0. 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. In 2018, a soldier was allegedly shot and killed in her front yard by her husband at Fort Campbell, in Kentucky, which also has one of the highest rates of suicide in the Army. He had been happy enough there that in February he reenlisted for an additional four years. 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. They returned several days later to pour concrete over the remains. The sense of dehumanizing alienation soldiers complained about was not a symptom of a malfunctioning system, it was its original design. In a press statement, Fort Hood officials said Hockin, 26, was initially found unresponsive outside of the barracks and was subsequently pronounced dead. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. But with each encounter, it was becoming clear that the military had not failed its soldiers at all. Two more who had separated from. 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. Fort Hood also stated that it had completed an exhaustive search for Fernandes, and that it had interviewed all relevant parties, including the family. 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. 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. Had one of them stood in for Guillen during roll call? 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. Frantic, she called around, to no avail. 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. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. I've lost brothers and sisters in arms, a marriage, I've lost family, I've lost friendships that were supposed to be forever. The family began posting online about Guillens disappearance and distributing Missing fliers. 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. During the day, though, it was still hot enough that if you dropped a beer bottle, the contents appeared to dry on contact. 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. By then Wedel-Morales had grown distant from his family in Oklahoma, who had not been told of the marriage. ), On July 3, a fortnight after Wedel-Morales's 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. 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. More than 2,200 trials over land rights commenced. Driving into Killeen last fall, what greeted me was a deer, roadkill, that had been severed in half. Fernandes transferred to another unit where he was called a snitch and worse. Fernandes was dropped off at his friends house the next day, never to be seen again. In 2020 alone, 31. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. That most soldiers enlist when they are still teenagers, their yet-unformed minds taught to kill. Copyright 2023 Echovita Inc. All rights reserved. The wave of pain went away as suddenly as it had come on but returned again, and again, and again, over the next hour. I am astounded nobody is interested, the Fernandes family lawyer Lenny Kesten told me. A few hours later, Robinson, who had mostly been playing video games, escaped Fort Hood by car. As many as 28 Fort Hood soldiers died in 2020, including in multiple homicides, suicides and other accidents. 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. Fort Hood is one of 800 United States military bases around the world, the third largest in the country. At least 159 Fort Hood soldiers died out of combat between 2016 and last year, including seven homicides and 71 suicides, according to an analysis by The New York Times. A young soldier found dead at Fort Hood has been identified, but his cause of death remains hidden. He refused to send a selfie or get on a video chat and began using a strange and unfamiliar speech pattern. 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. Fort Hood was founded in January 1942 as a training ground for tank destroyers, selected for its varied terrain. 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. The Lovell case was ruled an accident despite the fact that a rival clubs biker vest, or kutte, was found hanging neatly from a tree near the crash site, while his motorcyclemirror, taillightswas found intact. A sergeant from Guillens division called it mandatory fun days. The additional scrutinythe congressional delegation visit, press toursmeant that soldiers had to work harder. Hood was an unsuccessful battle commander; 400 men of his Texas Brigade died in a single fight, some would argue through incautious direction. Texas as of 9 July 2021; some devices had already been sold and shipped. After he returned to Fort Hood, Rodriguez managed to get Casteel on a video call. 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 murder of Vanessa Guilln, a 20-year-old United States Army soldier, took place inside an armory at Fort Hood, Texas, on April 22, 2020, when she was bludgeoned to death by another soldier, Aaron David Robinson. His mother, Kim, only heard from her son when he needed money. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our. 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. On August 11, a higher-up called Fernandes's mother, Ailina, to tell her that her son had not shown up for work for two days. Many complained specifically of being made to cut grass to ready for such official visits. She has become that complicated, indelible thing: a hero. Five were murdered. They checked into a nearby hotel and returned at 8 a.m. the next day. Despite 10,000 hours of investigation and 300 interviews, much about Guillen's death remained a mystery. 1st Class Calvin T. Rockward, 38, died during physical training Oct. 27, 2021. . Bill to attend technical school in Houston to work on wind turbines or oil rigs off the coast of Louisiana. 22.4 (births per 1,000 females 15-19 years of age) Infant Mortality Rate. 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 Killeen's seedy main corridor called Rancier, the same street where Specialist Freddy Delacruz, 23, was shot and killed last March. 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. Fort Hood announced that Stump had crashed his car while driving under the influence, though a toxicology report proved inconclusive. 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. It was unclear, in 2020, what American soldiers were fighting for. The brutal murders of four Idaho college students shocked millions. Failure to comply could incur fines of hundreds of dollars or other, more severe social censure. "I felt a bad vibe there," Lupe says, referring to Fort Hood. Linda Schweers, whose specialist son, Justin, died in a car crash in June while suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, wanted me to "be careful of cartels," which she said ran the area. Hood was an unsuccessful battle commander; 400 men of his Texas Brigade died in a single fight, some would argue through incautious direction. But with each encounter, it was becoming clear that the military had not failed its soldiers at all. First it was a five-mile run, then it was a two-mile run. 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. 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. 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. A few days later, they spoke again, for the last time. He had been happy enough there that in February he reenlisted for an additional four years. "She doesn't belong to the Army anymore," AnaLuisa Tapia, a local organizer, told me. (Fort Hood does not count Moore in its official casualty list, as he was a member of the National Guard.). There were no Black residents in town until the early 1950s. Why hadn't the arms room been treated like the crime scene it was? More than 2,200 trials over land rights commenced. Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, . The 2020 numbers add to ongoing mysteries, including a 2016 case . 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. 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. I've lost so much since I've been in. Fort Hood might not even stand out were it not for a particularly bad year among many. (He was found a day later.) "That is the opposite of what he's been consistently saying.". On August 17, Sergeant Elder Fernandes, 23, disappeared. This memory now refreshed, Gloria began asking around for a name and soon learned it through Guillen's friend: Aaron Robinson, the last person to have seen her daughter. Five were murdered. The small Texas frontier town was also a "hotbed of Klan activity," according to Texas historian Gene Preuss of the University of Houston, so much so that when trains stopped in Killeen, Black passengersrelegated to "colored cars"knew to pull down their window shades to avoid a pelting with rocks by locals. IMCOM is not responsible for the content of links outside home.army.mil. 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. At least 39 Fort Hood troops died or went missing last year. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. (Fort Hood refused all official interview requests for this story, citing ongoing investigations. I will tell you everything. Fernandes was dropped off at his friends house the next day, August 17, never to be seen again. I have sponsored a a Change.org listing advocating renaming the post after Oveta . (Among 1.29 million members of the U.S. military, 65,000 are immigrants, according to The Washington Post.) He died the evening of September 2. Vanessa Guilln, who was missing for about two months before her remains were found. 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. Ive lost so much since Ive been in. In 2018, a soldier was allegedly shot and killed in her front yard by her husband at Fort Campbell, in Kentucky, which also has one of the highest rates of suicide in the Army. 20, 2021 FORT HOOD, Texas The death of Spc. 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. Four days later, an anonymous tip directed investigators to an urban prairie at the end of a residential street where Penny Morales used to live. (Penny says they met online.) (According to Killeen police, no such vests were found at the scene of the crash. Those remains, it turned out, belonged to yet another soldier, Private Gregory Wedel-Morales, who had gone missing the previous summer.

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