Many of the national guard soldiers are full time and work at Hood. They know people, civilians and military, who work at that facility and were frantic for a while wondering of someone they knew was a victim. No one was. It seems the victims soldiers getting ready to deploy. How horrible for their families to lose their soldier before he or she even gets on the plane.
Earlier this year when an American soldier was captured in Afghanistan, most soldiers turned and watched the news when there was something about that soldier, then turned back when that segment was over. It has been that way since the shooting. If there is a report from Hood, people watch, if not they turn back to their conversation.
The darkest comments are of the WTF variety "What the F#$k were they thinking when this scum bag was admiring suicide bombers on blogs and trying to get out of deploying."
I was talking to another friend before this tragedy about chance and Providence. CS Lewis, following Boethius (The Consolation of Philosophy), says we live in a created world in which chance and randomness rule the lives of every creature except those who are following God's will for their lives.
This may seem like abstract theology, but at times like this and 9/11 and other tragedies, if you believe the created universe is determined down to the movement of particles, then an event like this can only be God's will. A field-grade officer murdering his fellow soldiers is not God's will. The Lord gave us free will and at times like this I wish it were otherwise. But we are free to love, or not. So right now to this random act of violence we are all free to do the Lord's work in caring for the victims and their families.
Amen Brother! The key question in tradgies like these not Why? but What? What are we to do to help those suffering from this tradgy and what are we to do to prevent this from happening again.
ReplyDeleteThank for your post and writing this blog.
Blessings on your work and ministry in Iraq.
The Rev. Debbie Graham
Hi Neil,
ReplyDeleteI was just getting done on the elliptical machine over at the Bedrock Gym when I looked up and saw the headline on CNN. It was surreal. My first concern was for my family, who live on Ft. Hood. After seeing more of the details, and learning what had actually happened, thankfully it was apparent that my wife and kids weren't in any danger.
But it was still pretty jarring to realize that I had just sat in that very same SRP building for a couple of hours on a Tuesday morning, less than two months ago.
Then yesterday, when they started showing the victims, I recognized Michael Cahill, the civillian Physician's Assistant, as the nice gentleman that I had a 10 minute conversation with, while he was looking over my medical record for my final-out PHA.
It's sad.
Some things in life just make no sense at all.
Todd
There was a time when soldiers always carried sidearms wherever they went, why don't they now? That's paraphrasing a question that a national talk radio host ask following the news alerts of the Fort Hood rampage. It's a good question to ask. Why aren't our soldiers permitted to carry sidearms while on base or off? It's no different than a law enforcement officer carrying his sidearm on duty. And most are required to carry a concelaed off-duty weapon. The soldiers would have at least been afforded an opportunity for self-defense. Maybe the gunman would have thought twice before acting with such malice? We can only guess. So many questions still being bantered about but without many concrete answers to accompany them. Definitely NOT God's will that this horrible thing should happen.
ReplyDeletePrayres and condolencenses for family, friends, and coworkers of those killed or injured at Fort Hood. Those on the base acted quickly and responded so well it's a tribute to how well-trained and capable our military people are in difficult circumstances. They're shining stars in a an ever-darkening world.