Yesterday, November 5, 2009, Major Nidal Hasan, a psychiatrist, stationed at Fort Hood, Texas opened fire on the military base. Nidal killed 13 and injured 30. This is the worst attack to ever happen on a military base. Earlier in the year Nidal was treated for post traumatic stress disorder. I find it a little strange that someone who is suffering from PTSD would still be working with other soldiers. Clearly, he still needs a lot of help!
After hearing about the shootings, I got to thinking about how quick the information was giving out. The media quickly reported on Fort Hood and families were aware of what had happened. Soldiers and family members were able to contact their loves ones and tell them what was happening and if they were okay. This past week I have been reading letters that were written to soldiers during World War II. Back during WWII communication was not quick and reliable. One letter read,
Darling, come to me in a dream tonight and tell me that you’re alive and safe. Please! I know you want to tell me. Maybe somewhere in a prison camp tonight you’re saying to yourself that tonight you’re going to try to tell me that you’re alive. If there’s anything good in the world, they’ll let you tell me.
When this letter was written the soldier was already dead. There were also numerous letters written to General MacAuthur pleading for any information about the state of soldiers from mothers and wives.
I could not imagine not knowing about such a tragedy for days, even weeks after it has happened. Very rarely do we write letters anymore and that could later affect what information has been recorded. But, at the same time we are very fortunate to have better forms of communication now, so that we can know the status of our loved ones when tragedy occurs.
On Tuesday, my cousin who I am very close too left for the Army. When I heard about the shootings I called my Mom and made sure that he had not gone to Texas. Thankfully he was not there but just the thought was scary enough. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the families and people who were affected by the shootings. I have said it before and I’ll continue to say it…WE NEED MORE SUPPORT FOR OUR SOLDIERS!
Barrett Litoff, Judy and David Smith. Since You Went Away. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1991.
Information regarding the Shootings:
Family Matters Said:
on November 7, 2009 at 2:59 am
My blog is about similar topics like communication, and PTSD. family things. I first of all, can’t believe that they allowed a soldier that was suffering from PTSD to stay on the base and work with fellow soldiers. So much research has been unfolding about this disorder and it has recently been labeled a disease that requires treatment based on the patient. It’s sad to think, but this is something that could have been prevented. So then I think, how many other soldiers have fallen through the cracks and are going to hit their breaking point at any moment from PTSD? How can we make sure that this doesn’t happen again because of the same reasons? I guess there are so many soldiers and it would be hard to pin point every single one of them suffering from PTSD and ask them to leave, but you said that it was known he had been suffering from this. why wasn’t anything done???
Comments. « Swanderc's Blog Said:
on November 7, 2009 at 4:04 am
[...] Comment #3 Comment #4 Comment #5 Comment #6 Comment #7 [...]
eldribri Said:
on November 24, 2009 at 3:21 am
Yes this was a very horrific event. In this blog you mention how quick information was gathered on the incident by the media. I wonder if the reason for that is to get more people in support of ending our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. This would be a very good tool to promote the idea because rather than an attack on America by some terrorist group or Muslim extremists; it is an American killing other Americans. Its beginning to even turn our own soldiers against us. If nothing else it really shows that the war is following our soldiers home. I found the parallel that you created between this event and the readings from class to be very interesting. I can imagine it being the worst feeling in the world to not know the status of a loved one fighting in some distant battle, or in this case under siege by a fellow soldier. However, I think it would be much worse in the time of World War II when communication was much slower. It could be weeks between correspondence and in that time any number of things could have happened. Imagine, a regular correspondence just ceases. What do you do? Who do you call? It would be like being lost which really explains some of the wives and loved ones seeking news from every possible source such as General MacArthur. This day in age it could be only a matter of hours before knowing of a loved one being injured or killed, effectively eliminating that period of unknowing and confusion.