deadly shooting at fort hood leaves many questions for u.s. military
by bsage

A few weeks ago Nidal Malik Hasan, a psychiatrist working for the U.S. army at Fort Hood in Texas, engaged in the deadliest mass shooting ever to occur at a U.S. military base. His rampage left 12 soldiers and one civilian dead, as well as 30 other individuals seriously injured. The gunfire only ended when Hasan was shot four times by a female officer nearby, who was injured herself in the barrage. Hasan survived and has been charged with 13 counts of murder.

Whenever a tragedy like this occurs, it is always both natural and vital to question why. Though Hasan’s actions can never be justified, a picture is emerging of a man lonely, unstable and terrified of an imminent deployment to Afghanistan. While he never has seen and never will see the field of combat, this does not mean that Hasan has been able to escape witnessing and experiencing its terrible effects in his nearly 20-year military career.

Though Hasan had recently been transferred to Fort Hood, he spent most of his time in the army working at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington D.C. His responsibility was to use his psychiatric abilities to help soldiers struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other mental disabilities brought on by the incredible strain of active duty. In trying to aid these suffering soldiers, however, he began to feel many of the same debilitating effects as the men and women he was treating. Toward the end of his time at Walter Reed, Hasan’s job performance reportedly suffered amid the great stress he was feeling, and he required both extra supervision and counseling.

Hasan was a man clearly dealing with poor mental health, and the military knew this. Rather than helping him, however, they instead forced him to leave his life-long home of Virginia and assigned him duties which he was not equipped to handle. It is simply absurd that the army would expect a man struggling so much mentally himself to try and aid others feeling similar psychological strain, particularly in locations he had never lived and had no desire to go.

However, there is another issue here, and it deals with Hasan’s religious affiliation. A proud and devout Muslim, Hasan attended prayer services at a mosque every day. Since the September 11 attacks, Muslims throughout the United States and particularly in the military have had to deal with abuse and prejudice from many individuals. Hasan reportedly grew so fed up with comments about his beliefs that he asked permission to leave the military multiple times, even offering to repay part of his salary to do so. The army never gave him a discharge, however, and instead gave him assignments he was less and less suited for while doing nothing to help create a more open and accepting environment for him to work in and practice his faith. It seems the army had no concern over Hasan’s complaints and instead punished him for making them.

Once again, what Nidal Malik Hasan did was nothing short of slaughter and cannot be rationalized or defended under any circumstances. The heartbreak of this incident does raise many concerns, however, and it is time for the U.S. military to look itself in the mirror. The army must do a better job identifying and helping all individuals who are dealing with mental troubles as a result of war, whether they are front line soldiers or not. Furthermore, the military should no longer tolerate the ever present undercurrent of discrimination faced by Muslim soldiers every day. The leaders at the top must insist on and enforce a tolerant atmosphere for people of all backgrounds. If the army continues to ignore the issues so clearly brought to light by this tragedy, it will only be a matter of time before it happens once again.