Army officer kills 12 at Ft. Hood, TX

[Flarecobra]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_fort_hood_shooting

An Army mental health professional has killed 12 at Fort Hood, TX today. 31 people have been wounded. MPs killed the gunman, and have arrested 2 others. More details will be released when the soldier's families have been notified.

EDIT: Apperentally they leaked the gunman's name. Army Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan. They're not sure yet as to motive.

[Tev]

I've been following this off and on today. This is really not the best way to start off November.

[Flarecobra]

UPDATE: FORT HOOD, Texas – A U.S. Army spokesman says the Fort Hood shootings suspect is alive and was not killed by authorities responding to the attack.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_fort_hood_shooting

[Bob The Mercenary]

Been also following this all day. The people who are taking the guy's last name and insinuating terrorism are going down an irresponsible and dangerous road. I hope they can restrain themselves until a full investigation is carried out.

My prayers are with the soldiers and their families.

[Donomni]

Originally Posted by Bob the Mercenary

Been also following this all day. The people who are taking the guy's last name and insinuating terrorism are going down an irresponsible and dangerous road. I hope they can restrain themselves until a full investigation is carried out.

My mom already said "He's Muslim."

It's not even something I argue about anymore: My family is as stubborn as a concrete wall. -__-;

[Azisien]

Originally Posted by Donomni

My mom already said "He's Muslim."

It's not even something I argue about anymore: My family is as stubborn as a concrete wall. -__-;

Then it's not just your mom failing...

[Funka Genocide]

Originally Posted by Azisien

Then it's not just your mom failing...

yeah it kinda is. He said anymore, he's tried. He was unsuccessful. Can't change people that don't want to change. Can't make people want to change.

People are responsible for their own decisions, not for the decisions of others. At best you can provide your honest estimation when asked in this situation. This situation being people who are willfully prejudiced. It kind of sucks when it's your family, but there's really no obligation to go around proselytizing with The One Truth.

Not saying that you can't do just that, or that I haven't myself, just that from a purely success based standpoint it's useless. People will just ignore you or worse. Only real way to force change would be by force, and I mean nobody wants to beat their mother into compliance. (and in any case that sort of enforcement typically loses efficacy when the immediate threat of violence is removed, I guess there's always brainwashing but that's far too labor intensive and requires too much control over another person's life to be effectively implemented in a typical family setting from the vantage point of a child, parents on the other hand have carte blanche to employ such methods and often times find success.)

Beating one's head against the proverbial wall might be considered noble, but it's not going to garner much useful effect.

[Donomni]

Originally Posted by Funka Genocide

Beating one's head against the proverbial wall might be considered noble, but it's not going to garner much useful effect.

Especially if said wall tries to flatten you by trying to convince you that all Muslims will kill you when given the chance, Obama's some sort of really sneaky man, etc, etc...

My mom's a product of mass media and anecdotal emailsinsane fear-mongering religious chain letter mom-mails, with a dad(aka my Grandpa) that keeps calling blacks that N-word white people aren't allowed to use... bleh.

The sad truth is she works too much and has a divorce as well going on, so trying to understand that not everyone of a single religion are nutjobs isn't high on her priority list, even if she wanted to.

Anyways, on-topic: I've seen some people say these bases are the safest places to live in the world. Is it wrong I think that's not really true, considering all the soldiers(Of which quite a few are probably unstable), at the very least?

[Eltargrim]

An Army mental health professional has killed 12 at Fort Hood, TX today.

Irony much?

But seriously, this underscores the need for all military, not just the US, to provide a better framework of support for their soldiers. War is traumatizing, and these people deserve help if they need it. From what I've been reading, they haven't been getting an awful lot of support (especially female veterans. The NYT had an article about it just the other day. The difference in how male and female veterans are treated is saddening).

[POS Industries]

Originally Posted by Eltargrim

But seriously, this underscores the need for all military, not just the US, to provide a better framework of support for their soldiers. War is traumatizing, and these people deserve help if they need it. From what I've been reading, they haven't been getting an awful lot of support (especially female veterans. The NYT had an article about it just the other day. The difference in how male and female veterans are treated is saddening).

On top of that, Ft. Hood has apparently never exactly been sunshine and gumdrops, even in peacetime. Back when my father was stationed there, suicides were an all-too-common occurrence. On one occasion, a friend of his came home to find his roommate had hung himself, which naturally made the man immediately ill. Upon running to the bathroom to vomit, he found his other roommate hanging there.

Granted, this was three decades ago, but if this most recent tragedy is any indication, we're really doing a piss poor job when it comes to the treatment of our soldiers and we have been for a very long time.