", 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. 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. Later came Koreans, Japanese, and Vietnamese, who still run sushi and pho restaurants in Killeen. (The person who called in with the tip declined to collect the reward. Dont they care as to what happened to Elder Fernandes? They married in May 2017, and he took her name with hyphenation. The sense of dehumanizing alienation soldiers complained about was not a symptom of a malfunctioning system, it was its original design. 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. These deaths confirm to many the issues reported at the post . On April 29, it was Private Joshua Barnwell, 19. How had he managed to escapeand where had he gotten his gun? Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. Club Fuego where Gregory Wedel-Morales was last seen, Killeen Tx. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. 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. Casteel had been stationed at Fort Hood since the end of June, where he'd been bullied for a spinal injury that consigned him to desk duties. Without any sense of purpose, the suffering at Fort Hood had started to lose its meaning. (He was found a day later.) Fort Hood might not even stand out were it not for a particularly bad year among many. 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. The additional scrutinythe congressional delegation visit, press toursmeant that soldiers had to work harder. Nov. 30, 2022. He joined the U.S. Army in March of 2017 as a combat engineer and had been assigned to . Chee had joined the military in part to support the young family he was starting with his high school sweetheart turned fiance. 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." Rodriguez disputes this claim. Casteel had told Rodriguez "he was getting away from the abuse.". 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. Frantic, she called around, to no avail. Fort Hood has come under serious fire in recent years, as the incident follows the heartbreaking death of Vanessa Guilln. On August 25, a rail worker in Temple, Texas, 26 miles east of Fort Hood, saw a body hanging from a tree across from a burned-out warehouse near the tracks. His mother, Kim, only heard from her son when he needed money. 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. He had also gotten married without telling his family, been evicted from his apartment, and stopped showing up to work. Why was Robinson not put under watch? 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. Call (254) 287-9993 or (254) 287-0106 to request a PAO escort. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. 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. She pleaded not guilty. And yet: The data is not really out of the ordinary for U.S. military bases. 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. Is it possible Elder killed himself ? Fort Hood had refused to list him as missing, and it was only after his then fiance, Paradise Rodriguez, posted a video on Facebook that an officer at the parish jail saw it and got into contact. Rosecrans, shot four times, was found three miles from his vehicle. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our. Why was Robinson not put under watch? By then, the Army, it seemed, had stopped providing Wedel-Morales with a sense of purpose, and he had turned to alternate sources of meaning, namely car and motorcycle clubs, and life beyond the base. July 2, 2022 (86 years old) View obituary Chong Thigpen November 12, 2021 (66 years old) View obituary Jaylen Tristian Bush April 3, 2021 View obituary Cecil Earl Garrison February 21, 2021 (87 years old) View obituary Daniel John Hunt January 29, 2021 (79 years old) View obituary Aage John Hoffman January 26, 2021 (86 years old) View obituary 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. But advocates for. III Corps Policies and Regulations . (Fort Hood does not count Moore in its official casualty list, as he was a member of the National Guard.). 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. A sergeant from Guillen's division called it "mandatory fun days." On August 28, Chee was called into a training run. 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. Texas as of 9 July 2021; some devices had already been sold and shipped. 1st Class Calvin T. Rockward, 38, died during physical training Oct. 27, 2021. . The author knocks on the doors bearing the darkest symbols, behind which lie guns, ammo, antisemitism, antiabortion dogmaand a belief in the coming civil war. WASHINGTON - The Army said Friday 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.. Today, Reform Austin is attempting to put the entire chain of events into a concise timeline for our readers. The very next day, a Fort Hood investigation concluded that Fernandess charges of sexual assault were unsubstantiated. Creating an obituary on Echovita is free. 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. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. They pointed glumly to past cases, some of which there were public records for and others I could find no traces of in the official files. On May 18, Brandon Rosecrans's burning Jeep was discovered in a hilly suburb east of Fort Hood. The brutal murders of four Idaho college students shocked millions. It was ruled a suicide until her father noticed her broken nose, black eye, loose teeth, and burns on her genitals. Their minds both turned to Vanessa, whose hourly texts to family members had gone silent. March 1, 2023 (94 years old) View obituary. Gloria had noticed her losing weight and pressed her for why. There she encountered Specialist Aaron Robinson, also 20 years old but a rank above. The police too told Ailina that Fernandes was an adult and that they would not report him as missing. At first blush, such violence at a base that calls itself the Great Place may seem extraordinary, inexplicable even. (The police opened an investigation on August 19.) He got home around 2 p.m. and told his wife, Gloria, about the unusual aches. Killeen was named after another disappointing man: Frank Killeen, an assistant general manager to the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway. A unique and lasting tribute for a loved one. Fort Hood announced that Stump had crashed his car while driving under the influence, though a toxicology report proved inconclusive. 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). The search party arrived at Fort Hood at 3 a.m. Guillens staff sergeant told the group to come back in the morning. Tributes.com is the online source for current local and national obituary news. But at Fort Hood, it sometimes seemed like "mission first, equipment second," he said, highlighting the paradox of the military that in word puts the well-being of soldiers first but in deed must, by design, favor combat readiness over all else. Back in Houston, Gloria recalled a conversation with her daughter not long before, when Guillen had been home for the weekend. 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. He died in 1879, leaving a troubled legacy that is only now beginning to be questioned. Also that year, Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach was raped by her superior, which she reported. 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. Before Guillen, there had been Private LaVena Lynn Johnson, who was found dead in a tent in 2005 in Iraq. Is it possible Elder killed himself? First came the British and Germans. Despite 10,000 hours of investigation and 300 interviews, much about Guillen's death remained a mystery. 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 90 lawmakers earlier this month called for an independent review of how the Army handled the disappearance of Spc. Eleven of the deaths remain unresolvedsome legally; others for the victims' families. Garrison Policies and Regulations. By Marlene Lenthang October 13, 2021, 9:15 AM 2:25 On Location: February 24, 2023 Catch up on the developing stories making headlines. Later, Robinson would tell investigators that Guillen completed her task and exited the building. Spc. 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. 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. 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.) 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. Fort Hood was founded in January 1942 as a training ground for tank destroyers, selected for its varied terrain. And on June 19, skeletal remains were found in a field behind a cul-de-sac of a residential neighborhood in Killeen. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. -. Casteel had been stationed at Fort Hood since the end of June, where hed been bullied for a spinal injury that consigned him to desk duties. Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, . He ultimately murdered her when she was eight months pregnant, then set her on fire before fleeing to Mexico. He was assigned to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. (His son's alleged killer is in custody awaiting trial.) October 14, 2021 Ryan Morgan. At the Dollhouse, he got to know Penny Morales, a dancer and mother of two. They married in May 2017, and he took her name with hyphenation. 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. Soon after, the Temple police, who led the investigation, ruled Fernandess death a suicide. They checked into a nearby hotel and returned at 8 a.m. the next day. The story appears in the July/August 2021 issue of Vanity Fair.I enthusiastically recommend this article. Fort Hood concluded Chee had died in training. ), 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. There had been a few people, then it was a group run of 11. Jennifer Anthony Lovells sister, Temple Tx. Curiously, a few hours after the officers picked up Casteel, he went silent online. A few hours later, Robinson, who had mostly been playing video games, escaped Fort Hood by car. His wife, Christal, was denied her husbands mobile phone, the final investigation report, and even his corpse, until Texas Congressman Ron Wright stepped in on that front. 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. They are part of Killeen's population of 151,000, many transient and very young, two thirds of whom have military ties. His body was mostly intact but for his hyoid, which was never found. Maxwell Hockin, 26, was. No skid marks were apparent, nor did anyone hear the crash. The base saw 26 . Fort Hood hurriedly put up a $25,000 reward for Wedel-Morales as well. He got home around 2 p.m. and told his wife, Gloria, about the unusual aches. None of the grunts I spoke to was surprised by the number of casualties. Why had it taken forensics 72 days to conduct a search of the arms room? That an overwhelming majority of the towns economy comes from Fort Hood makes Killeen a kind of rentier state, in that most of its revenue comes through a foreign entity, which historically has led to the collapse of domestic industries, leading to increased dependence on a single source of income. "He seemed weird," Rodriguez said. Toxic leadership is nothing new. 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. Sgt. 60.2 (births per 1,000 women 15-44 years of age) Teen Birth Rate. 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. Eric Christopher Hogan and Pfc. There was a deep cut above his left eye, and cuts all over his legs. (Fort Hood contributed nearly $30 billion to the Texas economy in 2019, according to the Texas comptrollers office.). 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. Those remains, it turned out, belonged to yet another soldier, Private Gregory Wedel-Morales, who had gone missing the previous summer. Ive lost brothers and sisters in arms, a marriage, Ive lost family, Ive lost friendships that were supposed to be forever. By then Wedel-Morales had grown distant from his family in Oklahoma, who had not been told of the marriage. 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. Fort Hood Weather. "I am astounded nobody is interested," the Fernandes family lawyer Lenny Kesten told me. In January 2017, Fox News cited reports to say the Army and local police were probing deaths of 11 Fort Hood soldiers who died on and off the base in the months before under mysterious circumstances, as per reports. 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. 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. Because what the military asks of its men and women is so antisocial, it must co-opt the rhetoric of the family. There were no Black residents in town until the early 1950s. Five were murdered. Fernandes's family told me they have never been interviewed. On March 5, 2020, Destanie Sawyer's 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. 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. But then certain details start illuminating the mystery: that one out of three women soldiers have experienced sexual harassment, according to a recent survey. Had one of them stood in for Guillen during roll call? 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. Then they tried burning the body. 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. 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. On April 29, it was Private Joshua Barnwell, 19. 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. Without any sense of purpose, the suffering at Fort Hood had started to lose its meaning. A few days later, so did 21-year-old Specialist Trey Ring. Lenz's mother, Margie Taylor, said her son loved children and looked forward to having a family of his own one day. (The police opened an investigation on August 19.) 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. 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. In 2007, also in Iraq, Specialist Kamisha Block's 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. 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. They returned several days later to pour concrete over the remains. (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.). 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. Fort Hood concluded Chee had died in training. Sewell is the latest soldier to disappear from the base after a series of soldiers disappeared in the past few years. My caution wasnt entirely unfounded. 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. 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. III Corps Inspector General. Guillens superior confirmed she was missing. 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.) During the run, Chee, who had no preexisting health conditions, collapsed. Also that year, Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach was raped by her superior, which she reported. Nelda Lee Edwards. Ive lost so much since Ive been in. 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. Death Notices Famous Deaths Search Wednesday, March 01, 2023 Audrie Talmadge "A.T." Powell 10 hrs ago Services for Audrie Talmadge "A.T." Powell, 78, will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Salado. A sergeant from Guillens division called it mandatory fun days. The additional scrutinythe congressional delegation visit, press toursmeant that soldiers had to work harder. In death, Guillen has become a kind of patron saint for all those who feel wronged by the U.S. military.
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