12 Dead , 31 wounded in Shooting at Ft Hood Texas

ff I dunno where all you posters are, but does your military have a grace period, where you can bail out, if after a certain period you find that you are not suited for a military lifestyle. Im pretty sure we have one over here, but not too sure on the time period.

ff

I dunno where all you posters are, but does your military have a grace period, where you can bail out

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I know in the early 90's the US Army had a system where you could quit ..but.

1) A recruit had to DOR(Drop on request) the very first week of basic training.

2) Then you had to attend a special recruit class for one week in which the Army tried to influence a recruit to stay Army.

I do not think this program still exist.ff

Finn McCool said:

I get the sense that the man who did these shootings was not any sort of terrorist agent, had no contact with anyone in Al Qaeda or any other foreign terrorist organization, but he was inspired by the same sort of motivation; a sense that Muslims are being victimized and that the only thing to do about it is to seek martyrdom in combat with the "enemy".

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There have been documented reports that he attended the same Mosque at the same time as two of the 911 hijackers/terrorists, and was taught by the same radical Imam from that Mosque. In addition, he was under FBI investigation for internet postings equating muslim suicide bombers with GIs who threw themselves on grenades to save their comrades, and for his comments after last summer's Little Rock, Arkasas incident where a radical muslim killed the Army recruiter there. His comments basically expressed understanding of that individual's actions and the thought that perhaps more Muslims should take the fight to America in such a fashion.

While I do not believe he actively worked with or planned his actions with any "cells" or other terrorists, it is clear to me that this is a case of what is more and more being called Individual Jihad Syndrome here in the US where individual members are radicalized by themselves or those around them and then make individual Jihad on their own. There have been several examples outside of the military, and now two inside the military.

Jeff Head said:

While I do not believe he actively worked with or planned his actions with any "cells" or other terrorists, it is clear to me that this is a case of what is more and more being called Individual Jihad Syndrome here in the US where individual members are radicalized by themselves or those around them and then make individual Jihad on their own. There have been several examples outside of the military, and now two inside the military.

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Or maybe he cracked under the pressure of deployment and interaction with those who returned from deployment. From what I have seen Fort Hood is not a place for good mental health, 75 people have already killed themselves so far this year, maybe instead of killing himself, this guy just decided to kill others.

King_Comm said:

Or maybe he cracked under the pressure of deployment and interaction with those who returned from deployment. From what I have seen Fort Hood is not a place for good mental health, 75 people have already killed themselves so far this year, maybe instead of killing himself, this guy just decided to kill others.

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That certainly was a factor. I think it was a combination of mental health and stress issues and the fact that he was already something of a "wannabe jihadist". It took extreme mental stress to cause him to act on his feelings.

What surprised me most is the guy was a Major, which is a well ranked officer and you don't go to be a major in the Army if you are not doing something right to get there in the first place. This also means he had been on the Army for a long time. This is not some new recruit down the ranks.

Usually religion, or the perversion of a religion, is used as the excuse when the individual already has a deep problem or rage going on inside.

crobato said:

What surprised me most is the guy was a Major, which is a well ranked officer and you don't go to be a major in the Army if you are not doing something right to get there in the first place. This also means he had been on the Army for a long time. This is not some new recruit down the ranks.

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Well he was a psychiatrist, and the military has a severe shortage of psychiatrists. That most likely had something to do with it. Think about it, there's a guy who doesn't like the military, wants to leave, but he does a job that is in high demand, so they promote him in an effort to keep him on.

The guy was mentally unstable, to say the least. He could have tried so many other options to leave the military or found other ways to voice his opposition against the current wars, but he chooses to shoot lots of innocent people (innocent as far I know).

The US military could hire psychiatrists and doctors from the civilian sector, or contract medical work to civilian doctors/psychiatrists. The US military should have helped him if he was being picked on by peers for being a Muslim and for disagreeing with how the wars are being conducted. The US military is making too many errors in its ME wars.

This guy enrolled in the US military to pay for his education and he wanted an early leave. His high doctor salary should be enough to eventually pay back the US military.

This whole situation was a train wreck.

crobato said:

What surprised me most is the guy was a Major, which is a well ranked officer and you don't go to be a major in the Army if you are not doing something right to get there in the first place. This also means he had been on the Army for a long time. This is not some new recruit down the ranks.

Usually religion, or the perversion of a religion, is used as the excuse when the individual already has a deep problem or rage going on inside.

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He made his religion the issue by his many open and very direct statemens, and actions. My guess is, over time, such open, direct, and contrary statements resulted in other soldiers ostracizing him and verbally harrassing him over it. To the point that he was seeking to get out of the military over it. He was clearly disturbed, and his deployment orders pushed him over the edge.

I blame him for that, for his actions...and I blame the system that kept him in the position he was after so many warning signs over so many years. I think in their rush to get people like him into the psych positions, that they did not do a thorough enough check on him.

He atteneded the same Mosque as two of the 911 hijackers and was schooled by that same very radical Imam. That coupled with his views should have led to him not being in the position he was to counsel troops going to or returning from the war zone IMHO.

As to his rank, he was a Doctor, and one that was in much demand. After the schooling the military put him through he probably graduated as either as a full Lieutenant or a Captain.

bd popeye said:

This is tragic. May the dead rest in peace and my condolences to all the families.

Looks like a US Army Major went haywire over being deployed.

I just heard the name of the Major accused in the attack . He has a Muslim name. Major Malik Nadal Hassan. He's dead by the way.

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It's looking more and more like out and out terrorism.

US Officials Aware of Hasan Efforts to Contact al Qaeda

ABC News said:

U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan tried to make contact with people linked to al Qaeda. It is not known whether the intelligence agencies informed the Army that one of its officers was seeking to connect with suspected al Qaeda figures, the officials said.

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