Fort Hood Shooting Brings Tragedy to the U.S. Military at Home

It’s not terrorism in the traditional sense, whereby a foreign national plots and plans to attack U.S. shores over long months and, if successful, gets across a message (presumably) to the world power that is America. The shooting in Fort Hood, Texas yesterday was, however, terrible enough a tragedy to leave Army brass scratching their heads. The shooting at Fort Hood began at around 1:30 P.M. yesterday afternoon, with a U.S. Army soldier opening fire at the base, killing 12 and wounding 31 others in the process. Authorities shot and killed the shooter, and tracked down two additional soldiers who were apparently involved in some plot with the downed man.

Officials confirmed yesterday afternoon that the shooting suspect was Army Major Malik Nadal Hasan. It is unclear whether Hasan converted to Islam and changed his name, or was born with that name. Captain Rob Dolan, public affairs officer for the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona noted, "The bottom line for us is that we are increasing our security at our gates because the threat hasn’t yet been defined, and we’re reminding our Marines to be vigilant in their areas of responsibility."

In Washington, D.C., President Obama called the shooting a "horrific outburst of violence" and also noted, "We will make sure that we get answers to every single question about this horrible incident." Meanwhile, folks in the area around the base are still on edge. Said Cynthia Thomas, who works at a local café in the area that regularly serves soldiers, "It’s chaotic. They’re just saying that they’re under attack they don’t know what’s going on. The phones are jammed. Everybody is calling family members and friends. Soldiers are running around with M-16s."