March 1, 2010

The post-11/5 journey has not been easy. Families of those lost are trying to “move on;” but that is easier for us to report than for those Families to accomplish.  Likewise, the wounded - some by bullets and others be being caught up in the shootings - wrestle with the aftermath.

A few Soldiers are still hospitalized, supported by families who have remained at their bedside for these past four months. As earlier reported, some Family members (parents, grandparents & others) - for a variety of reasons - did not qualify for US government support or assistance. But they were, and are today, significant bedside care-givers. We could not let them to feel abandoned and so are providing both monetary and emotional support. Parenthetically, we were honored to have three of the Soldiers’ Families attend our February 17^th chapter General Membership meeting where five hundred attendees welcomed them all with rousing applause.

Two smaller Army units that were in the Processing Center preparing for imminent overseas movement suffered disproportionally heavy casualties. Surviving members of the 467^th and 1908^th Combat Stress Support Detachments (RC units heading for Iraq and Afghanistan) still wanted to deploy. It was their duty, they said - their way of remembering lost comrades. We thought they needed time to come together before their deployments, in a relaxed setting and rebuild. We funded a series of pre-deployment unit-wide recreational events.

The 11/5 tragedy left many others thoroughly rattled. No one gets shot at - or watches others wounded or killed - without being rattled. We were not be surprised when sizeable numbers of Soldiers and DA civilians who were working in or being processed at the Fort Hood Processing Center on November 5^th, sought out professional behavioral health specialists.

Some of this care has been provided by Fort Hood’s Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center. But either because demand exceeded the Army’s capacity or because those seeking treatment preferred to turn to other facilities, our chapter linked up with Scott & White Hospital to dramatically expand our already ongoing Project Home Front health care effort. Project Home Front is now treating more than a hundred post 11/5 clients, including Soldiers, DA civilian employees who were on-scene and Soldier Family members (including young children). Behavioral health care professionals tell us that we should expect an increase in need in this category of care throughout 2010.

We are also carefully examining various methods by which the fund might provide some level of higher education scholarship assistance or support to spouses and school-age children of Soldiers, either killed or wounded, when such assistance or support would not materially duplicate benefits available under either the Veterans Administration’s Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance Program or other USG-funded programs.

We likewise remain committed, working with Fort Hood’s leadership to in some way appropriately memorialize this tragedy.

Our next update will be posted not later than April 1, 2010.