As a symbolic gesture, it made sense. On August 25, a rail worker in Temple, Texas, 26 miles east of Fort Hood, saw a body hanging from a tree across from a burned-out warehouse near the tracks. Stump was going 82 mph in a 30-mph zone, the investigation report said, and had hit a tree on a mound. At the time of his first trial, Davis was believed to be the wealthiest man to have stood trial for murder in the United States. Fort Hood is a sprawling base of nearly 215,000 acres, or 340sq miles, founded in 1942 in mid-Texas, between Austin and Dallas. Lynch and Speier said they would report the conditions and circumstances that could have contributed to the soldiers deaths and seek justice on behalf of soldiers and families who may have been failed by a military system and culture that was ultimately responsible for their care and protection. Without any sense of purpose, the suffering at Fort Hood had started to lose its meaning. Yet instead of being taken into custody, Robinson was placed in a conference room on base, initially, it was said, for committing adultery, which is against the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Army charged a fellow soldier with Guilln's murder, though that soldier killed himself before charges were announced.. A recent story in Vanity Fair explores how murders like Guilln's, as well as suicides, aren't rare on American military bases. 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. When his parents rushed to the hospital, they saw that Chee, lying unconscious, had bruises and scrapes on his chin and on both sides of his face. Ana Basaldua Ruiz, 20. On April 29, it was Private Joshua Barnwell, 19. One of the largest military bases in the world, Fort Hood has been criticized for failing to protect soldiers in the past. She doesnt belong to the Army anymore, AnaLuisa Tapia, a local organizer, told me. The family of Guilln, whose remains were found on 1 July, has rallied from Texas to the doors of the White House calling for a congressional investigation. He seemed weird, Rodriguez said. My entire deployment I was catcalled, and called names, wrote Crystal De Los Rios in a Facebook post as part of the #IAmVanessaGuillen campaign. As soon as I get out of the hospital, I will call you. But survivors and advocates already know the limits of congressional advocacy. He died the evening of September 2. His wife, Christal, was denied her husbands mobile phone, the final investigation report, and even his corpse, until Texas Congressman Ron Wright stepped in on that front. But then certain details start illuminating the mystery: that one out of three women soldiers have experienced sexual harassment, according to a recent survey. All rights reserved. Toxic leadership is nothing new. And the mix of suicides and interpersonal violence on base points to a troubling culture among leadership there that Jeong says has trickled down into the lower ranks. A criminal complaint notes that both Robinson and Aguilar had previously been questioned by the CID, but at first denied being involved with Guillens disappearance. FORT WORTH, Texas One of the fastest-growing cities in North Texas is seeing an unwanted increase in one of its violent crime numbers. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Aguilar appeared in court earlier this month but did not make any statement other than to acknowledge the charges against her. 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. Michael Burnett. Private Morta died on. At least 159 Fort Hood soldiers died out of combat between 2016 and last year, including seven homicides and 71 suicides, according to an analysis by The New York Times. In the course of the search for Guilln, investigators also found the remains of another missing Fort Hood soldier, Private Gregory Morales, who disappeared last August, one of several unsolved deaths and disappearances at the base. During the run, Chee, who had no preexisting health conditions, collapsed. (Fort Hood does not count Moore in its official casualty list, as he was a member of the National Guard.). They checked into a nearby hotel and returned at 8 a.m. the next day. 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. Sadly we are all Vanessa Guillen.. While law enforcement agencies, minus Army CID Special Agents, attempted to make contact with the suspect, the suspect reportedly displayed a weapon and took his own life, Fort Hood said in a public statement. Mejhor Morta, 26, and Specialist Francisco Gilberto Hernandez-Vargas, 24 died two weeks apart in what appeared to be drowning accidents in the same lake. Beyond the base, gas station attendants and restaurant servers, many of whom were veterans or had ties to the military, all seemed resigned to certain fates. The Lovell case was ruled an accident despite the fact that a rival clubs biker vest, or kutte, was found hanging neatly from a tree near the crash site, while his motorcyclemirror, taillightswas found intact. When the chain of command tries to be the one thats involved, its like the police policing itself, said Ordex. When Ailina offered the Fort Hood authorities the contents of her sons car, including a laptop, iPad, and external hard drive, they declined to investigate further. And so his disappearance was no surprise, his father told me. Reformers would say that the military had failed its men and women. The tributaries that run through Fort Hood flow into the Leon River, where Guillens remains were later found. [5] The dollhouse, strip club Gregory Wedel Morales frequented, Killeen Tx. Then The Effort Hit A Wall. The 20-year-old small arms specialist, then a private first class, was supposed to be off that day, so she showed up in civilian clothesblack tee, purple leggings, and a fanny pack. Five were murdered. After the discovery, Vanessa Guillens sister, Mayra Guillen told TIME, I feel empty I feel like they took everything from me.. 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. Guillen is from Houston, a three-hour drive south east of Fort Hood, where she relocated after first being stationed in Virginia, according to Houston KPRC 2. 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. (Carolyn Kaster/AP) The rates of certain violent crimes, including murder, are generally . Fort Hood was cast under intense scrutiny when Guilln, a 20-year-old soldier, disappeared from the military base in Bell County on April 22, 2020. In 2013, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand introduced the Military Justice Improvement Act, which would give independent military prosecutors outside the chain of command control over sexual assault cases. Amid national pressure to rename such bases, a recent Military Times poll found near-50% support for such moves among service personnel. That psychological trauma among veterans vastly exceeds physical wounds. "Her loss is felt not just in our formations but across the Army. As distressing as the remains in shallow graves or the missing hyoid bone is the fatalism from soldiers and locals alike. Guillen confessed that she was being harassed by another soldier. Two more who had separated from the. Soldiers cannot sue the military for harm, and have little recourse aside from reporting up the chain of command. I felt a bad vibe there, Lupe says, referring to Fort Hood. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. 28 Apr 2023 21:06:24 As her family publicly pressed for answers, the army announced that a suspect, soldier Aaron David Robinson, died on 1 July by suicide as law enforcement pursued him. Aguilar faces 20 years in federal prison and a maximum $250,000 fine, and a hearing is expected to take place early next week. Site Gregory Wedel-Morales' remains were found in Killeen, Texas. No skid marks were apparent, nor did anyone hear the crash. Curiously, a few hours after the officers picked up Casteel, he went silent online. (modern). There was no immediate indication that foul play was involved. The hashtag #IAmVanessaGuillen spread across social media as service members shared stories of sexual violence and harassment in a #MeToo reckoning for the military, as the country also grapples with the wider indictments of systemic racial discrimination and injustice following the killing of George Floyd. At present, the reporting system is designed so that service members report to an internal entity or their superiors in the case of the Army its the Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention, known as SHARP, which the family believes is ineffective. About one in three service members report sexual assault, according to the defense departments sexual assault prevention and response office, which was established in 2005. They lied to us since day one, Mayra Guilln, Vanessas sister, said in an anguished press conference last week. Fort Hood was founded in January 1942 as a training ground for tank destroyers, selected for its varied terrain. On July 1, Fort Hood officials announced that the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) and other law enforcement were attempting to locate a junior soldier from Fort Hood who fled the post late on June 30. Lupe Guillen, younger sister to missing Pfc. It is situated on 340 square. A service of the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin | Contact us, Kristen Cabrera, Shelly Brisbin & Caroline Covington, A service of the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas Democrats Leave State In Effort To Block GOP Voting Restrictions, Hundreds Visited Texas Capitol Over The Weekend For Voting Bill Hearings, Johnson Space Centers New Director Leads Where No Black Woman Has Led Before. All rights reserved. Basic details of the incident kept changing. In 2018, a soldier was allegedly shot and killed in her front yard by her husband at Fort Campbell, in Kentucky, which also has one of the highest rates of suicide in the Army. So much of reporting is opening yourself up to chance, and there I was, compulsively locking and relocking the rental car door. At Fort Hood, its a combination of the toxic leadership, the culture there that was able to exist,she said. In fact, Casteel had been convinced that CIA agents were attacking him since last June. He got home around 2 p.m. and told his wife, Gloria, about the unusual aches. Morales was reported missing in August 2019. "Army CID will continue to conduct a thorough investigation and gather all evidence and facts to ensure they discover exactly what transpired. 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. [2] [3] It was the deadliest mass shooting on an American military base. Magazines, encouraging women in the military to share their stories, Or create a free account to access more articles, Vanessa Guillen's Remains Have Been Identified. And yet: The data is not really out of the ordinary for U.S. military bases. My caution wasnt entirely unfounded. Speier leads the armed services subcommittee on military personnel. We are focused on supporting Drill Sergeant Mitchells family as well as her soldiers during this extremely difficult time," Maj. Gen. Dennis LeMaster, the MEDCoE Commanding General, said in a statement. Military police arrested Noah Edwin Anthony, 23, on March 3, 2022, court documents show. Asia M. Graham, 19. Traveling in the time of plague, trying to build rapport with people from six feet away, was enervating. In death, Guillen has become a kind of patron saint for all those who feel wronged by the U.S. military. 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Two Coast Guard Yards in the two most dangerous military towns are located in Baltimore, which saw a murder rate ten times the national average in 2017. Fort Hood concluded Chee had died in training. Ive lost so much since Ive been in. Within days of arriving at Fort Hood, Chees clothes were stolen. A few hours later, Robinson, who had mostly been playing video games, escaped Fort Hood by car. Thirteen killed themselves. Is it possible Elder was murdered? McCaskill, a former sex crimes prosecutor, found herself labeled as the roadblock to the most significant piece of congressional legislation challenging rape culture in the military. The apparently unrelated deaths of two female Army soldiers in Texas are under investigation after officials said one died after being shot in her car on a freeway on New Year's Day and the other was discovered dead in her military barracks on New Year's Eve. Isaac Aguigui, Sgt. Victoria a friend of Gregory Wedel-Morales at the site of his remains, Killeen TX. Racism could also be a factor. We need a neutral agency, to oversee claims of sexual harassment and assault, Khawam says, one with no stake in the game., I joined the Navy at 19. I will continue spreading her name until she is found and justice is served., Nathalie Ocampo Meda, a member of the Marines, shared that she was sexually harassed and threatened on multiple occasions. Vanessa Guillen in Fort Worth, Texas in July 2020. Updated: 5:56 PM CDT November 2, 2021. On June 30, a construction crew found shallow graves containing human remains that belonged to Guillen. 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. (modern). There, Wedel-Moraless remains had been found, long ago decomposed in the Texas heat. And I think its just the confluence of these factors that is intersecting in this spectacularly terrible way.. I believe in Vanessa, and know how it feels to not be believed. American military bases, once established, seldom shutter, and Fort Hood, which started operating during World War II, has remained open for business, its 218,000 acres spreading across two counties in central Texas near an otherwise unremarkable town called Killeen. (Among 1.29 million members of the U.S. military, 65,000 are immigrants, according to The Washington Post.) However, efforts to pass legislation reforming military justice faltered over a debate about commanders roles in prosecuting sexual assault. Cecily Aguilar, a woman authorities say was Robinsons girlfriend, pleaded guilty to federal charges last November, accused of helping him dispose of Guillns body and lying to investigators. Staff Sergeant Devin Schuette was found dead in his pickup truck, fitted with a hose running from the exhaust pipe to the cabin, in January 2016. The body of US Army Sgt Elder Fernandes, whose death is under investigation, is returned to Massachusetts on 1 September 2020. While visiting Killeen last year, Jeong says the atmosphere was uncomfortable. Give me the name and I will report the bastard, Gloria told her daughter, who refused to tell her mother more for fear of worrying her, and also, Gloria later suspected, for fear of reprisal. The back-to-back deaths come just four months after two congressional committees launched probes into the high number of deaths at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, in 2020, highlighted by the disappearances of three soldiers who were later found dead, including Spc. The Fort Worth Lockheed Martin plant is adjacent to the military base, where the company assembles and tests the F-35. In emergencies, call 911, or seek care from a local hospital or mental health provider. There have been several unsolved deaths or disappearances at the base. By then Wedel-Morales had grown distant from his family in Oklahoma, who had not been told of the marriage. 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. Schuettes body was returned to his family wrapped like a mummy. Later that year, Private Dakota Lee Stump left his barracks to report for work less than a mile away but never arrived for formation. As we speak, they are in prayer at the house, she said. Killeen itself sits on an especially brutal stretch of central Texas, along the Balcones Fault, which separates the high plains of the Hill Country to the west from the grand prairies and limestone plains of the east, and along which runs Interstate 35. She had also missed her standing noon call with her fianc, Juan Cruz. Why hadnt the arms room been treated like the crime scene it was? But at Fort Hood, it sometimes seemed like mission first, equipment second, he said, highlighting the paradox of the military that in word puts the well-being of soldiers first but in deed must, by design, favor combat readiness over all else. 'We are Vanessa Guilln': killing puts sexual violence in US military in focus, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. Inquiry into sexual assault, disappearances, deaths and leadership response at Fort Hood in Texas. Terrie Boley, whose daughter Candance became addicted to crack cocaine while serving at Fort Hood and was murdered in a motel room in 2011, told me not to drink the water. If you or someone you know may be contemplating suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text HOME to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line. Ana Basaldua Ruiz no foul play is evident, and will remain under investigation.. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Guillens disappearance sparked protests and her family said she was sexually harassed before she went missing. Basaldua Ruiz, 20, who was from Long Beach, California, joined the Army in July 2021 and was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division since December that year. For the Army to say no foul play presumes facts that have not yet been brought forth. The 28th death at Fort Hood this year occurred last week. They married in May 2017, and he took her name with hyphenation. April 26, 2023 4:40 PM. Casteel had been stationed at Fort Hood since the end of June, where hed been bullied for a spinal injury that consigned him to desk duties. LULAC leaders said the soldier's parents stated their daughter had complained about repeated sexual harassment by other service members, including one of her superiors. Fort Hood said Thursday that "no foul play" was evident so far in an ongoing investigation into the March 13 death of Pvt. The sense of dehumanizing alienation soldiers complained about was not a symptom of a malfunctioning system, it was its original design. He had then driven the body to the Leon River and had come back to pick Aguilar up from the gas station where she worked on Veterans Memorial Boulevard, five miles east of Fort Hood. Christopher Salmon, and Pfc. Rosecrans, shot four times, was found three miles from his vehicle. The departments estimated number of sexual assaults rose sharply between 2016 and 2018, an increase driven mostly by women aged 17 to 24, like Guilln. She was taken to University Hospital San Antonio, where she was pronounced dead around 3 a.m., police said. Unless NWS Fort Worth were to get special permission, the likely intense tornado that just occurred over rural Fort Hood, Texas in Coryell County will *probably* only receive a rating of EFU as it occurred over a military base. She has said that if Guilln had felt able to come forward before, she might still be alive today. She told family and friends that she was being sexual harassed by two different soldiers who outranked her, including Robinson, but never formally reported the allegations, fearing retaliation. Fort Hood has the highest cases of soldier murders and sexual assaults among all Army installments, officials said Thursday, as they planned to investigate the military base. This was true of many I met at Fort Hood, including press officer Major Gabriela Thompson, my tour guide on base, who told me she joined to pay off her student loans: It was my ticket out, she said, echoing other soldiers sentiments about how the military had rescued them from hardscrabble existences. The police too told Ailina that Fernandes was an adult and that they would not report him as missing.
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