The disappearance of Vanessa Guilln, a 20-year-old soldier at the sprawling Texas Army base of Fort Hood last April, captured headlines across the world. The first week I spent in Texas that October, 22-year-old Lucas Hicks-Mack went missing on base. 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. Their minds both turned to Vanessa, whose hourly texts to family members had gone silent. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. Specialist Vanessa Guillens father, Rogelio, wondered if I shouldnt carry a gun. Subscribers have complete access to the archive. 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. During the run, Chee, who had no preexisting health conditions, collapsed. According to officials, the deaths include seven off-duty accidents; seven suicides; one combat-related death; four homicides, one of which was on the base; two of natural causes; one that was. Anthony Nevelle Peak Jr. Hogan, 19, and Peak Jr., 21, were both killed in a. 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. 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. Hood was an unsuccessful battle commander; 400 men of his Texas Brigade died in a single fight, some would argue through incautious direction. (Fort Hood refused all official interview requests for this story, citing ongoing investigations. On most nights, I had nightmares. 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. 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. 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. A soft October wind carried the first chill of the season. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. 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. That September, Wedel-Morales, who was from rural Oklahoma, was due to be honorably discharged from the military. 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. Matthew Disney, 20, of Aberdeen, Maryland, were pronounced dead on the scene by emergency medical personnel at the North Carolina military. He wondered if it was something he had eaten and carried on with his shift. 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." 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. 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. Is it possible Elder killed himself ? Fort Hood also stated that it had completed an exhaustive search for Fernandes, and that it had interviewed all relevant parties, including the family. 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. 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.. That is the opposite of what hes been consistently saying.. (Penny says they met online.) 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. SHARE. Just before noon, Guillen left her keys, Army ID, and bank cards in one arms room and entered another adjacent arms room, separated by a hallway. Highway renamed & dedicated to late Fort Hood soldier . 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. 60.2 (births per 1,000 women 15-44 years of age) Teen Birth Rate. 24, 2021 KILLEEN, Texas Spc. 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. Toxic leadership is nothing new. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Call (254) 287-9993 or (254) 287-0106 to request a PAO escort. The Idaho Murders, Part 1: How 4 College Kids Lived and Loved. 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. The deaths were caused by varying reasons -- gunshots, car accidents and illnesses and all the deaths were under probe. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers vanished or died, including 13. I felt a bad vibe there, Lupe says, referring to Fort Hood. Eric Christopher Hogan and Pfc. I've lost brothers and sisters in arms, a marriage, I've lost family, I've lost friendships that were supposed to be forever. (On July 14,2020, a federal grand injury indicted Aguilar on one count of conspiracy and two counts of tampering with evidence. Chee, like Yazzie, was a member of the Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation community, and was new to the base. 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. And yet: The data is not really out of the ordinary for U.S. military bases. And on June 19, skeletal remains were found in a field behind a cul-de-sac of a residential neighborhood in Killeen. 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. We believe that Every Life has a Story which should be told and preserved. 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 refused all official interview requests for this story, citing ongoing investigations. Rodriguez sensed something was off. There she encountered Specialist Aaron Robinson, also 20 years old but a rank above. 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. It was unclear, in 2020, what American soldiers were fighting for. He had also gotten married without telling his family, been evicted from his apartment, and stopped showing up to work. And so his disappearance was no surprise, his father told me. 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. Sgt. He also wanted an education, and joining the Army he knew he could take care of all of that, his sister Carma Johnson says. 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.) These deaths confirm to many the issues reported at the post . 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. 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. Is it possible Elder was murdered? On most nights, I had nightmares. A sergeant from Guillen's division called it "mandatory fun days." His killers were never looked for properly and thus never found. In 1941, Private Felix Hall was lynched by fellow soldiers, at Fort Benning, Georgia. The 2020 numbers add to ongoing mysteries, including a 2016 case where a corpses hyoid, the U-shaped neck bone typically examined to determine whether strangulation has occurred, was missing. 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. 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. Stump was going 82 mph in a 30-mph zone, the investigation report said, and had hit a tree on a mound. His body was mostly intact but for his hyoid, which was never found. 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. THE MURDERS AT FORT HOOD Remains of soldiers have been turning up around the Texas military base with terrifying frequency. The exact cause of Hockin's death remains unclear . As many as 28 Fort Hood soldiers died in 2020, including in multiple homicides, suicides and other accidents. Far from itthe military was operating as it had been intended. "I guess my point is," Rodriguez told me, "if everything was 'fine,' the way Fort Hood officials would lead us to believe, then why would this soldier, out of character, leave base without permission, and [why] did he not feel comfortable enough to call his captain or anyone on that base once he was arrested for speeding? You can click this link to create an obituary. The tributaries that run through Fort Hood flow into the Leon River, where Guillens remains were later found. IMCOM is not responsible for the content of links outside home.army.mil. Fuck Biden, Dont Tread on Me, and a Wisconsin Death Trip for Our Times. The U.S. Army identified a soldier found dead behind his company barracks at Fort Hood last week as 26-year-old Spc. 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. 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. At first blush, such violence at a base that calls itself the Great Place may seem extraordinary, inexplicable even. (Fort Hood does not count Moore in its official casualty list, as he was a member of the National Guard.). From the age of 18, the only thing I knew how to do was kill people, Ring wrote on the website of his fathers veterans rights organization. At the Dollhouse, he got to know Penny Morales, a dancer and mother of two. Vanessa Guillen. For nothing.. What happened on that base and in the Army to cause this person who is normally very [kind] and responsive to all of a sudden leave and shut down?, 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. Nelda Lee Edwards. Namely, the military. 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. Fort Hood might not even stand out were it not for a particularly bad year among many. 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. He had messaged his sister beforehand to tell her something felt off. The death was ruled a suicide despite the fact that the blanket stuffed around the window to hold the pipe in place had been doused in Schuette's own blood, and Schuette was found with nine stab wounds across his body, including his forearm and his left hand. Despite 10,000 hours of investigation and 300 interviews, much about Guillens death remained a mystery. But then certain details start illuminating the mystery: that one out of three women soldiers have experienced sexual harassment, according to a recent survey. The Armys own investigation found major flaws at Fort Hood, leading to the firing or suspending of 14 officials. 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. 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. None of the grunts I spoke to was surprised by the number of casualties. All rights reserved. Hoover, Alabama. Robinson gave Guillen the serial number for a .50 caliber machine gun that needed servicing. 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. Simply browse the Fort Hoods obituaries listing you can find on this page or conduct a search on the web site with your loved ones name. Within days of arriving at Fort Hood, Chees clothes were stolen. "For nothing.". She filled out the paperwork that is the lifeblood of the Army before heading toward the arms room, a few paces away. Guillen confessed that she was being harassed by another soldier. She had also missed her standing noon call with her fianc, Juan Cruz. 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. 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 carsknew to pull down their window shades to avoid a pelting with rocks by locals. The corpse had been dead for a while, though it was impossible to determine exactly how long. When Elisabeth Finch met Jennifer Beyer in 2019, the two women forged a fiercely loyal friendship, and eventually got married. I am astounded nobody is interested, the Fernandes family lawyer Lenny Kesten told me. But advocates for. 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. Fort Hood was founded in January 1942 as a training ground for tank destroyers, selected for its varied terrain. Without any sense of purpose, the suffering at Fort Hood had started to lose its meaning. But then certain details start illuminating the mystery: that one out of three women soldiers have experienced sexual harassment, according to a recent survey. Fernandes was dropped off at his friend's house the next day, August 17, never to be seen again. Before Guillen, there had been Private LaVena Lynn Johnson, who was found dead in a tent in 2005 in Iraq. 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. Two more who had separated from. Why was Robinson not put under watch? Congress launched an investigation of Fort Hood citing the deaths and other felonies that occurred on the fort between 2014-2019. . Maxwell Hockin, the Central . On Wednesday, April 22, 2020, Guillen reported for duty at Fort Hood. 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. Bill to attend technical school in Houston to work on wind turbines or oil rigs off the coast of Louisiana. 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. 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. Five were murdered. A few days later, so did 21-year-old Specialist Trey Ring. 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. Here are some of the tragic deaths that have plagued the base in recent months: Pvt. On June 30, a construction crew found shallow graves containing human remains that belonged to Guillen. Later came Koreans, Japanese, and Vietnamese, who still run sushi and pho restaurants in Killeen. In death, she is no longer a daughter or a sister or a partner. If not, what explained the false accounting? PUBLISHED 10:53 AM CT Mar. It was unclear, in 2020, what American soldiers were fighting for. Two witnesses had seen Robinson roll a black cargo box out of the arms room and through the parking lot, where he loaded it into his car and drove away, contradicting an earlier affidavit from three soldiers who falsely claimed they had seen Guillen departing the arms room earlier. Fort Hood hurriedly put up a $25,000 reward for Wedel-Morales as well. 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. He was assigned to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Later that year, Private Dakota Lee Stump left his barracks to report for work less than a mile away but never arrived for formation. Fernandess family told me they have never been interviewed. There was a deep cut above his left eye, and cuts all over his legs. 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. They married in May 2017, and he took her name with hyphenation. (Fort Hood) A soldier in the 1st Cavalry Division was found dead Saturday in his company area, according to a statement from. (Marine Lance Corporal Riley Schultzs death on March 15, 2019, at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, was also ruled a suicide, despite his hyoid being broken. Barely a week later, Private Corlton Chee, 25, died during training. By then Wedel-Morales had grown distant from his family in Oklahoma, who had not been told of the marriage. 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. 6 min read. "What on earth are you training for?" (Fort Hood contributed nearly $30 billion to the Texas economy in 2019, according to the Texas comptroller's office.). In 2020 alone, 31. 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. Had anyone helped Robinson clean up Guillens murder in those 40 minutes? He ultimately murdered her when she was eight months pregnant, then set her on fire before fleeing to Mexico. 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. In fact, Casteel had been convinced that CIA agents were attacking him since last June. 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. Because what the military asks of its men and women is so antisocial, it must co-opt the rhetoric of the family.
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