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. Female soldier found dead at Fort Hood, the same Army base in Texas The letter said that according to army data there were an average of 129 felonies committed annually at Fort Hood between 2014 and 2019, including cases of homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, robbery and aggravated assault. Your gift helps pay for everything you find on texasstandard.org and KUT.org. (modern). Sexual assault in the military has long been an issue. Fort Hood is a sprawling base of nearly 215,000 acres, or 340sq miles, founded in 1942 in mid-Texas, between Austin and Dallas. Later the same day, at 8:30 p.m., Aaron Robinsons girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, changed her story and told Army investigators that Robinson had confessed to her that he killed Guillen in the arms room, beating her to death with a hammer. I want her alive because she entered [Fort Hood] alive, Gloria Guillen, Vanessa Guillens mother, said in Spanish at an emotional press conference outside of the base on June 23. Published: Apr. Graham enlisted Army in July 2019 and in her short career received the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Army Service Ribbon, military officials said. All Rights Reserved. Sixty-six per cent of retaliation reports allege that retaliators were in the soldiers chain of command. Its like a fox in the hen house, Khawam told the Guardian. There have been several unsolved deaths or disappearances at the base. Inside the Rash of Unexplained Deaths at Fort Hood | Vanity Fair Chee, like Yazzie, was a member of the Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation community, and was new to the base. Women in the military have shared their stories of sexual harassment and assault while on duty as part of a social media campaign started by Lupe Guillen, Vanessas older sister. Before Fort Hood was built, the land was used for grazing by some 3,000 farmers and ranchers, according to Gerald D. Skidmore, a Killeen historian. Khawam said Army officials, accompanied by an Army chaplain, met with Guillens family on Sunday to inform them that Guillen was dead. It was also an ancient Comanche Native American burial ground, discovered when construction workers unearthed more than 2,200 grave sites in 1998. As publication approached, it stopped responding to emails pertaining to both specific questions about individual cases as well as broader queries about the base.). 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.) One even made chief. The military's highest-profile bases had the highest number of suicides, as Pentagon contends with troops dying not from enemies but their own hands. That gun safety is a distant concern in a community where the Second Amendment tops the Maslow charts. Our soldiers and their families deserve the truth, she said. 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. And so his disappearance was no surprise, his father told me. We are deeply disturbed by the string of deaths at Fort Hood, and if there is any malfeasance or negligence involved, the Navajo Nation calls on our national leaders to pursue every available avenue to protect the lives of our Navajo warriors and those serving in the US armed forces, the Navajo speaker of the council, Seth Damon, said. Courtesy: Fort Worth Star-Telegram archives File photo. the army secretary, Ryan McCarthy, announced last week. For the Army to say no foul play would also indicate a tone deafness to the concerns of the father and the mother of Ana Fernanda Basaldua Ruiz who stated that she had been the target of alleged sexual harassment repeated and consistent sexual harassment by other service members up to and including an immediate superior to who she reported, David Cruz, the Communications Director of LULAC, said. Eventually Fernandes rang from the Army hospital. 2 U.S. Army helicopters crash in Alaska, killing 3 soldiers Our thoughts and prayers are with them during this difficult time. According to a criminal complaint, Aguilar was Robinsons girlfriend, and on April 22 he called her to say he struck a female soldier in the head with a hammer multiple times, killing her, on Fort Hood. Vannessa Guilln at Fort Hood led to a reckoning within the Army about sexual assault and harassment. Fort Hood had refused to list him as missing, and it was only after his then fiance, Paradise Rodriguez, posted a video on Facebook that an officer at the parish jail saw it and got into contact. FORT GREGG-ADAMS, Va. (WWBT) - What was once Fort Lee's Army base now bears the names of two Black military officers. Mitchell, a drill sergeant assigned to the U.S. Army Medical Center for Excellence at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, was shot to death around 2:30 a.m. on New Year's Day while driving on Interstate 10 in San Antonio, according to the San Antonio Police Department. When the chain of command tries to be the one thats involved, its like the police policing itself, said Ordex. Fort Hood concluded Chee had died in training. Reformers would say that the military had failed its men and women. All rights reserved. Khawam, is also collecting testimony from women in the military who wish to share their stories of sexual assault and harassment. 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. On most nights, I had nightmares. According to a federal criminal complaint, Aguilar identified Robinson as the man who killed Guillen. Barely a week later, Private Corlton Chee, 25, died during training. Darlene Krashoc Sexually Assaulted, Murdered, and Dumped in Parking Lot in Colorado Springs; DNA Match Leads to Arrest of Michael Whyte (March 17, 1987) Captain Gordon Hess, U.S. Army Army Captain Gordon Hess Found Stabbed to Death at Fort Knox in Kentucky, Military Investigators Ruled Suicide Despite the 26 Stab Wounds to Neck & Chest Area (1998) Why hadnt the arms room been treated like the crime scene it was? A small minority, which bikers call one percent groups, and which the Department of Justice calls by the regrettable acronym OMG, or outlaw motorcycle gangs, were the people Wedel-Morales had been hanging around with. Women, who make up 17 percent of active-duty military, were doubly bereft, and the case files were awash with stories of the dead. I still live with anxiety and depression every day. Foul play is also suspected at this point in the investigation of Moraless death, Fort Hood officials said in a public statement, but there is no credible information linking his death to Guillens disappearance. There was no immediate indication that foul play was involved. They were identified as Sgt. Club Fuego where Gregory Wedel-Morales was last seen, Killeen Tx. Then they tried burning the body. If not, what explained the false accounting? The enduring missions, beneficial partnerships, and promising outlook validate each installation's vital role in our nation's defense. That American imperialism is imploding, and the blast force radiates inward. Natalie Khawam, who represents the Guilln family, said she is thankful Congress has agreed to their demands to investigate. In 2007, also in Iraq, Specialist Kamisha Blocks death was ruled an accident by a single shot of friendly fire before the family received the body and saw that she had five gunshot wounds, including one to the head. By Nicole Lopez. Almost 90 lawmakers have signed a letter spearheaded by the Texas representative Sylvia Garcia calling for the defense departments inspector general to investigate Guillns disappearance at Fort Hood. (The police opened an investigation on August 19.) The Guilln family plans to lead a peaceful protest in Washington DC, on 30 July, when they will present their proposed bill to lawmakers. 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. 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 Overdose Crisis Sweeping Fort Bragg - Rolling Stone Mayra wept during the journey, already fearing the worst. For the Army to say no foul play presumes facts that have not yet been brought forth. The military is necessarily an institution of state-sanctioned violence, where we teach our young to kill on our behalf in the name of ideologies such as patriotism or democracy. The 28th death at Fort Hood this year occurred last week. Robinson himself left soon thereafter, he would testify, to spend the night off post with his girlfriend. Casteel had told Rodriguez he was getting away from the abuse.. Specialist Justen Ogdens death in July 2017 was ruled a suicide, but the suicide note Fort Hood produced as evidence did not match his handwriting, according to his mother, Toni. That September, Wedel-Morales, who was from rural Oklahoma, was due to be honorably discharged from the military. All rights reserved. The Department of Justice released a criminal complaint alleging that Robinson had murdered Guilln at the base, then dismembered and buried her body near the Leon River, with Aguilars help. Specialist Vanessa Guillens father, Rogelio, wondered if I shouldnt carry a gun. Victoria a friend of Gregory Wedel-Morales at the site of his remains, Killeen TX. The Army charged a fellow soldier with Guillns murder, though that soldier killed himself before charges were announced. By then Wedel-Morales had grown distant from his family in Oklahoma, who had not been told of the marriage.