Thread: Rampage at Fort Hood

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/06/us...mc=rss&src=igw

Simply terrible and this is the second incident like this on a military base in the last 2 years if I'm correct with the first taking place in Iraq. It's bad enough that suicides are on the rise along with hazing but this is just terrible and a good reason for revamping the psychological screening process of all applicants and a yearly or twice yearly evaluation ( disclaimer: I am not fully aware of the inner workings of the military but one person getting through like this says that the current screening process is not working ).

Originally Posted by Van

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/06/us...mc=rss&src=igw

Simply terrible and this is the second incident like this on a military base in the last 2 years if I'm correct with the first taking place in Iraq. It's bad enough that suicides are on the rise along with hazing but this is just terrible and a good reason for revamping the psychological screening process of all applicants and a yearly or twice yearly evaluation ( disclaimer: I am not fully aware of the inner workings of the military but one person getting through like this says that the current screening process is not working ).

I hear what you're saying Van, but the military is a reflection of society and, as you know, people are filled with imperfection. Having retired from the military, I feel there is no amount of pre-screening or post-screen that will guarantee weeding-out and/or repairing problems with the human factor to a 100% certainty. Moreover, this guy was an educated mental health professional who worked among other mental health professionals. How did his fellow mental health experts not see this train wreck coming?

I am sure there will be investigations that reveal someone in leadership (aka chain of command) dropped-the-ball...however, to fix these problems from happening in the military implies that you keep them from happening in the private sector. I would love to be optimistic, but as long as we keep making human beings we'll continue to deal with evil men do. After all, it's in our nature and sin starts on page #1 of the bible.

A very sad day.My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.