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. Dont they care as to what happened to Elder Fernandes? [2] Namely, the military. 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." But with each encounter, it was becoming clear that the military had not failed its soldiers at all. ), Wedel-Moraless death was not the first from the base that may have involved bike gangs. Memorial that now stands at the site Vanessa Guillen's remains were found in Killen, Texas. He refused to send a selfie or get on a video chat and began using a strange and unfamiliar speech pattern. Reformers would say that the military had failed its men and women. After 8 p.m., Guillens sister Mayra called the base. (The Boley case remains unsolved.) WASHINGTON (AP) 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. The search party arrived at Fort Hood at 3 a.m. Guillen's staff sergeant told the group to come back in the morning. Dominic Criqui, who served in Vanessa Guillen's unit, says that the training had come to feel "stupid" and "pointless." A group of soldiers, including Robinson, greeted them. Echovita Inc is a registered trademark. Give me the name and I will report the bastard, Gloria told her daughter, who refused to tell her mother more for fear of worrying her, and also, Gloria later suspected, for fear of reprisal. 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a deployment to Iraq in February 2019shipped off two months after basic training for a nine-month tourRing had become withdrawn, developed a drinking problem, and had been arrested for drunk driving. Those remains, it turned out, belonged to yet another soldier, Private Gregory Wedel-Morales, who had gone missing the previous summer. In other battles, having lost the use of his arm and later a leg, Hood had to be strapped to a horse for combat. Without any sense of purpose, the suffering at Fort Hood had started to lose its meaning. 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. There she encountered Specialist Aaron Robinson, also 20 years old but a rank above. The numbers are distressing. Joshua Diamond, 35, of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Pfc. 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.. New Market, Alabama. By Marlene Lenthang October 13, 2021, 9:15 AM 2:25 On Location: February 24, 2023 Catch up on the developing stories making headlines. I have sponsored a a Change.org listing advocating renaming the post after Oveta . His body was mostly intact but for his hyoid, which was never found. 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. Eleven of the deaths remain unresolvedsome legally; others for the victims'. Guillen's youngest sister, Lupe, says. Basic details of the incident kept changing. None of the grunts I spoke to was surprised by the number of casualties. 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. (The person who called in with the tip declined to collect the reward. A young soldier found dead at Fort Hood has been identified, but his cause of death remains hidden. Fort Hood might not even stand out were it not for a particularly bad year among many. Driving into Killeen last fall, what greeted me was a deer, roadkill, that had been severed in half. The first week I spent in Texas that October, 22-year-old Lucas Hicks-Mack went missing on base. 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. 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 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. 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. Failure to comply could incur fines of hundreds of dollars or other, more severe social censure. Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, . He had also gotten married without telling his family, been evicted from his apartment, and stopped showing up to work. Dozens of people were killed, died by suicide, or went missing from the Texas military base last year alone. The corpse had been dead for a while, though it was impossible to determine exactly how long. During the day, though, it was still hot enough that if you dropped a beer bottle, the contents appeared to dry on contact. The first week I spent in Texas that October, 22-year-old Lucas Hicks-Mack went missing on base. Martinez joined the Army in April 2018 as a cannoneer, according to base officials. 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. Green Beret training death special forces training soldier dies in training army training . As distressing as the remains in shallow graves or the missing hyoid bone is the fatalism from soldiers and locals alike. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers vanished or died, including 13. III Corps Inspector General. Not long after Fort Hood opened, soldiers began bringing home souvenirs in the form of war brides. ", Several days later, Rodriguez learned that Casteel had been committed to a hospital on base. 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. ", 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. The soldiers said that Guillen's belongings had been found in the arms room, but otherwise she had left no trace. "What on earth are you training for?" The shakeup comes after after a series of suspicious deaths and disappearances that have plagued Fort Hood. My caution wasnt entirely unfounded. There were no Black residents in town until the early 1950s. Fort Hood announced that Stump had crashed his car while driving under the influence, though a toxicology report proved inconclusive. Driving into Killeen last fall, what greeted me was a deer, roadkill, that had been severed in half, 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. He got home around 2 p.m. and told his wife, Gloria, about the unusual aches. (Fort Hood refused all official interview requests for this story, citing ongoing investigations. I've even lost myself." 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. Prepare a personalized obituary for someone you loved.. Search Fort Hood obituaries and condolences, hosted by Echovita.com. Escorts should be arranged in advance to allow for coordination with the organization receiving coverage. 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. 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. Since being stationed at Fort Hood in November 2016, Wedel-Morales had frequented the Dollhouse, a strip club not far from where his remains would eventually be found. At first blush, such violence at a base that calls itself "the Great Place" may seem extraordinary, inexplicable even. 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. I will tell you everything." "Is it possible Elder was murdered? Fernandes's family told me they have never been interviewed. (He was found a day later.) When Kim called Fort Hood inquiring after her son, she was told the case was the remit of the Killeen Police Department as Wedel-Morales had gone missing off base. Fuck Biden, Dont Tread on Me, and a Wisconsin Death Trip for Our Times. Fort Hood officials confirmed Monday that Martinez and Mosley were assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division. You can find Osama bin Laden, but you cant find a soldier that went missing on your own base? Guillens youngest sister, Lupe, says. A few days later, they spoke again, for the last time. More than 90 lawmakers earlier this month called for an independent review of how the Army handled the disappearance of Spc. On August 17, Sergeant Elder Fernandes, 23, disappeared. The 20-year-old US Army soldier died in a Fort Hood, Texas,. In death, Guillen has become a kind of patron saint for all those who feel wronged by the U.S. military. 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. 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. What is behind the violence and tragedy at Fort Hood? It rained that night, and the drive, which should have taken three hours, was slow going. There was a deep cut above his left eye, and cuts all over his legs. The U.S. Army on Tuesday announced the removal . 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,. Back in Houston, Gloria recalled a conversation with her daughter not long before, when Guillen had been home for the weekend. 6 min read. IMCOM is not responsible for the content of links outside home.army.mil. (The police opened an investigation on August 19.) 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. 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. Jennifer Anthony Lovells sister, Temple Tx.