Friday November 6, 2009, 8:19 am
This is just a shock for all of the Ft. Hood area, as well as the rest of the state of TX. Such a tragedy to our own Armed Forces. Many at Ft. Hood have faced multiple stays already with the war over the past 8 years plus, and now to know they are not even in a safe harbor on their own Army Base, in their homeland is just too awful almost to think about. Please keep all of the Ft. Hood, Waco, Killeen, & Temple area in your thoughts, as well as the thousands of troops and families that are based there.

Friday November 6, 2009, 8:37 am
This is truly so traggic. As I read the stories I must note the LACK of comments. No one knows what so say. Being the Mother and partner of former military personnel, my heart aches for the families of the fallen and wounded.
Many prayers of healing and strength to them.

Friday November 6, 2009, 8:38 am
this is truly tragic... and so sad... the war is having a detrimental affect on everyones minds, even the psychiatrists are not immune to its effects... this war is costly and should be revaluated..

Saturday November 7, 2009, 7:22 am
I have been in shock like most of this state and this nation. By now, I have usually written my thoughts, feelings, emotions, and shared them with everyone. This is a tough situation. Our troops have already been through the ringer, sometimes on several occasions, with long, multiple tours over in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, and Lord only knows where else. I am sure as civilians we do not know the extent of what our dear men and women truly witness while over there. They have had to such a mixed bunch of emotions about the people there, about the children, about those left with nothing due to the war, the Taliban, Al Queda, and their governments have practically abandoned them at the time they need their governments help the most
This horrendous act upon one of our own military bases, where our soldiers and their families feel and should be totally secure. Each of those bases are where the troops come home to be "normal" again, with family, friends, and out of the line of fire. Yet, right here only 50 miles from me, that "normalcy" was shattered for those on the base, along with people across our nation that have their own stationed their. This not only hits Texas in the gut, this reaches out far beyond the state lines, and sends an air of caution, an air of unsafeness, of fear, of doubt, and one of anger throughout out nation.
My husband and I were just talking about how we try and not "profile" people here. Whether their skin be a different color, whatever religious beliefs they have, whatever ethnicity they are from, we try and remember the majority of them are truly citizens, born right here, or they have became citizens. Yet, after this senseless act in Ft. Hood, we will find ourselves more and more almost feeling as if we are sizing up, or profiling those with names, with the look, of those countries, Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Afghanistan... we now feel very betrayed by what was supposed to be one of our own, yet it seems after the story started to unfold, some of his "loyalty" was not really with our US Army and the United States, he was torn by his roots, and his religion, that led him partially towards leaning in the Muslim ways. As the days ahead continue to unfold, we see more and more this was about being Muslim, about probably his guilt over going on his first tour of duty, yet fighting against some that stand in his own faith. I shall never take up for him, yet we know how cruel our world can be. I am sure he had been somewhat harassed, due to his name, and ethnicity, along with his religious beliefs. I guess my question, and I am sure it will be answered as the days bring more facts about him, that why he felt he must go into a room full of soldiers and open fire on them? If he did not want to go to fight, then it seems there could have been something he could have done, even went AWOL, rather than kill and injure innocent soldiers and civilians. That is the part that I don't get. Sure, maybe he "snapped" but the ways things look he had definitely been planning the attack. He even went and bought high powered automatic handguns ahead of times, with many additional clips. So, it was not like he just snapped and went nuts suddenly. This seems to be a very calculated plot, that could have ended much, much worse, if it were not for the female civilian officer that met him head to head, getting shot herself, yet taking him down saving many, many other lives. And what makes this even worse, is all of the instability all around our world. We have many countries that vow against others, much of which is religious in nature. Take Israel and Palestine. That "Holy war", which is about a tiny strip of land not much bigger than a tiny island, has been at the brunt of an ongoing war off and on for as many years and more than we can count. Take a look at North and South Korea. They have been at odds with one another, for what seems like an eternity. We have many allies with many countries, yet we also have some very influential countries that do not like America or Americans. Some that are armed with nuclear weapons, biological weapons, and other methods that if gotten into the wrong hands, could wipe our nation off the face of the Earth. We already have seen our own "homegrown" terrorists, from Timothy McVey, to so many violent rampages at our schools and colleges. We have had even some of our churches attacked, with guns, violence, and death to innocent people.

Our world is a very dangerous place at this time in history. Our nation is in a deep, dark and sinking hole, from the economic hardships so many of us face daily, the loss of jobs has not been this high in decades, and continues to rise each month. We have not seen such instability on Wall Street since the Great Depression, and in fact we are almost worse off than during the Depression. Never in our lifetimes, have we seen so many families losing homes, their savings, and everything they have worked for, for years to retire on just slip away within the blink of an eye. We have more families living in tent cities, including no telling how many children, because this is the only place they have to live. One of our major factors is health care reform, which right now is where our main focus is, and by all rights should be. One of the biggest reasons we a a nation are in this kind of horrendous debt, losing everything, is due to the fact we are going broke trying to stay well. The amount charged by hospitals, doctors, and other medical facilities is out of sight, yet our insurance companies, that are supposed to be providing us "health care coverage", ones that we pay premium prices for, are too busy lining their own people's pockets with huge raises, luxurious trips, cars, and salaries with extremely large, to the point of insane bonuses. And we ask why? Because those are the people sitting on their butts, in their big fine fancy offices, DENYING us coverage, bringing in sudden clauses that make our health issues 'PRE-EXISTING", so they can ultimately deny coverage, after we and /or our employers pay out the butt monthly extremely high premiums, yet these shysters, or as far as I am concerned they are thieves, robbing us of something so incredibly precious, our own good health! Everywhere you turn, you hear story after story, of loss, of foreclosure, of bankruptcy, of people literally sitting waiting to DIE, because they have no insurance, or they have been denied for one reason or the other.
Then we wonder why things like what happened in Orlando happen. People are more stressed now that ever. They cannot provide for their kids, they have lost every dollar of savings, and retirement money. Some that have had homes for decades are suddenly out on the streets with no place to turn.

We are now just seeing the tip of the violent acts I feel going on. My fear is there will be many more mass shootings, many more murder-suicide in families, and many more acts of pure insanity because people will have reached their stress limit, and snap.

My sound faith is that all of this will one day end, and my hopes are that my grown children, then especially their kids and grand kids to come will not have to struggle and meet the hardships we face now on a daily basis. Even I have my doubts about any kind of peace, and normalcy for our country and our world in the future. But, without trying to keep my eyes on the bigger picture, and see the sun rising over a high mountaintop, so I can continue to think we can absolutely make this nation and our world a better place in the future.