Sep 18, 2020
The U.S. Army's Fort Hood is on track to have the biggest year yet in soldier deaths due to accidents, illness, suicide, and murder! The Texas military installation, on which Army psychiatrist Maj Nidal Hasan killed 13 people and injured 32 others in a 2009 mass shooting, has seen more than its share of bloodshed. In 2014, five years after Hasan’s killing rampage, Iraq War veteran and Army veteran SPC Ivan Lopez opened fire on the base, killing three soldiers and injuring another 16 before killing himself. Today, it seems not much has changed. Not only is Fort Hood the army's premier installation to train and deploy heavy forces, but it also leads the service in soldier murders and sexual assault cases. Of course, this should come as no surprise because, from 2014 and 2019, there was an average of 129 felonies committed annually at Fort Hood, including cases of homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, robbery, and aggravated assault. Maybe the base should think about changing its name to Fort Hoodlum. Anyway, to try to glean some perspective into the chilling number of deaths on Fort Hood, we invited SFC Ron Barteau, a former tank commander and Fort Hood alum, to share his experience and insight into the base climate and culture, and what leaders today might be missing.
Show notes at https://thedigressionpodcast.com/32
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