Again, Obama Offers Comfort at Fort Hood After Soldiers Are Killed

Adriano Romero Dueñas

143365

10/04/2014 socus

Again, Obama Offers Comfort at Fort Hood After Soldiers Are Killed

By PETER BAKER and MANNY FERNANDEZ    APRIL 9, 2014

5 years ago at Fort Hood, in November 2009, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan who said he was trying to protect “my Muslim brothers” from soldiers deploying to Afghanistan  shot 13 people and injured more than 30 others on the same Army post in the same state.

This time the service came seven days after Specialist Ivan A. Lopez killed three soldiers and wounded 16 others before taking his own life on April 2.

And once again, President Obama was back Wednesday on the same field. “Part of what makes this so painful is that we’ve been here before,” a somber Mr. Obama told an estimated 3,000 people gathered on Sadowski Field. “This tragedy tears at wounds still raw from five years ago. Once more, soldiers who survived foreign war zones were struck down here at home, where they’re supposed to be safe.

Arrayed in front of the president were three helmets mounted on rifles, three sets of boots and three photographs, one for each of those shot to death.

Base commanders were still trying to determine why a soldier killed three of his comrades and then himself, mental illness among veterans is very common and it could be part of the situation. He was being evaluated for possible post-traumatic stress disorder, and had seen a psychiatrist recently, although he had shown no signs that he might commit a violent act, officials said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/10/us/fort-hood-shooting.html?_r=0

 

Wherever the reason could be this kind of act is an alarming issue for the American society, the called “Army Family” composed for those who are or had being part of the United States Army and their families, claim for actions to prevent events like this at American soil.

War is and always is going to be a fact that brings suffering deteriorating the society, you can keep the war out of the national soil, but you can’t keep the war out of the veteran. How is supposed a veteran to live a common life?, what is doing the society to make them feel home again?.

The United States is facing not only with veterans violence and tragedy, there are more and more cases of kids killing kids at school (Student goes on a stabbing spree in US school, attacks 19 fellow ...)for example, and this shows an alarming rise in a perception of insecurity among common citizens. After 9/11, the feeling of the homeland security became a priority, determining politics and the presidential elections of those years.

Which could be the public actions in order to prevent citizens to kill each other? , is the war that engaged with society, that it became like a real life video game?. There are many aspects that I could talk about from this article, like the National Rifle Association or the Second Amendment.

But the fact that takes my attention is the military system, in which propaganda plays a big role when enlisting to serve. There is a machine for making heroes from those who had served and a dream for those young people who choose the possibility of death in a distant war, a dream covered with words of honor and justice, a dream that is far from reality.

“We still do not yet know exactly why. But we do know this: We must honor their lives not in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.” Mr. Obama said during the speech.

In United States joining the army is an opportunity for those who doesn’t have much, but there should be an opportunity for those who should be more than a “jar head” or a gunman.