Posted on 11/05/2009 7:58:38 PM PST by SwaggerStick
If you read the transcript of this news report about an eyewitness soldier, it appears to have been a waiting room, and Hasan, being a doctor, had gained access, sitting behind the "desk" -- probably a counter, then stood up and opened fire. Shooting gallery. Element of surprise. Unarmed victims.
soldiers were sitting in a staging area for medical and dental checks when the group was startled by gunfire. "A person behind counter stood up, and he said, ‘Allah Akbar!' And just opened up on everybody," the father told us.
I don’t think every soldier carries a loaded weapon, but I would think there would be a greater concentration of weapons than somewhere else.
glad you can tell by looking at him .... I’m impressed.
I mean I don’t have a clue ... can’t say if he was operational or not ..I don’t have that good of power of observation to tell where a man was stationed without seeing a service record. I’m funny tht way.
Oh and by the way ... I don’t think I ever addressed THE GEN specifically as an REMF in my posts.
“......IN this case, you have dozens of battle hardened GI’s which are used to firefights and can easily tackle one assailant...you are telling me that no one tried to incapacitate the assailant? “
Perhaps some of the dead and injured were attempting to get to him. We will have to wait for the reports from those who were there.
So how would Lieutenant General SwaggerStick have done better?
Also the generals running the training post like Fort Hood are not the generals running the wars. Different missions different skills. Not at all surprising or worrying that the first reports were inaccurate. The real bitch is how P.C.ified the US Army has become that a practicing Muslim with a bad OER and an aniti-American attitude reaches the rank of Major and is allowed to stay in the US Army.
I read his bio. I forgot to add that to my post.
His bio is posted on the III Corps website if you wish to find out more.
My step-father was a corpman, he worked in the clinic on various bases, and while not everyone running around the place was armed, There were always folks armed at the or near the clinics he worked in. I cannot recall once in all the years he was domestically stationed where I visited him at work and did not see at least one MP (usually more) on premises at the clinics, either escorting someone who did stomething stupid and was being stitched up before put in the brig or stopping in on their rounds.
Hell even when he was stationed at the reserve center in Pittsburgh, he and several others were carrying open or concealed whenever I visited his office.
I am not familiar with this base or Army protocol at all, but I know my exposure to military bases, which were nearly all marine, you didn’t have to look far to find armed personel on any of them.
For 40 people to be shot, with 2 handguns you are looking at minimum of 4 clips being emptied assuming nearly every bullet hit. While certainly you can empty semi’s quickly, something about this just doesn’t smell right to me.
Considering the fact that when I was in the Military during the 1970’s and the only people who carried firearms on base were either LE or Security, I have a hard time understanding your post to me. Also, my son is presently in the Army. At Ft. Drum, NY no one carried weapons unless they were involved in training exersizes or were Military Police. And, with training exersizes, the weapons were not loaded unless they were actually within the training grounds. He’s now at Ft. Benning, GA. Same rules apply. No one carries weapons upon a Military installation except LE/Military Police or soldiers out on training grounds. The carrying of weapons on the installation proper is not permitted. Perhaps you should ask someone who works on a Military Installation before you call me a troll.
Marines make fun of the Navy, but sailors don’t usually put themselves down that way. My Navy son rated as a sharpshooter, expert or something.
Let’s understand this one point of fact: No one other than Military/Civiliam Police carries weapons on Military Installations within the installation proper - the only area of a Military Installation where soldiers are permitted to walk around armed is the training grounds. This incident didn’t occur anywhere near the training grounds. It was near office buildings. The only person who was armed when the shooting started, and before LE responsed, was the shooter.
I heard one father on Fox call in and say his son got shot in the arm, son got up and ran like hell. I was embarrassed for him that he didn’t try to help by attacking the shooter. Maybe it was a rain of fire or something, but it sounded yellow to me.
Sounds like you come from a long line of them. :D
Why would you say such a thing to soldierdad when you don’t know what you’re talking about?? He’s right! No weapons, not locked in your trunk, no in the other room in a gun safe. None in your possession.
I too wonder why someone or several someones didn’t just jump him, but there’s NO reason to insult a FReeper who knows of what he speaks.
That’s the opposite of every single other person’s experience. Weapons are NEVER to be brought on base by off duty, loaded or not. The idea that your step father would carry while on base makes my eyes bug out in surprise that he would take that risk. He would have been in great trouble if he’d been caught. And no one was carrying openly.
Navy wife, Navy mom
Thanks for the support. It’s understandable for someone to question why soldiers who may have seen combat before (no way to know if those in the area had as I’ve not seen/read any reports that indicate this) would not have tackled the shooter and disarmed him. However, unless we’ve been in this situation, it’s hard to second guess the actions of those who were in that moment.
Initial information is always confused, often contradictory and usually incorrect.
But our media driven culture demands information now. Now!
Remember the morning of 9/11? Reports of more hijacked planes, mass shootings, Car bombs, radiation detection. It took weeks to sort it all out.
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