Pictures from Fort Hood: http://bit.ly/1hMhP8

Words are useless at times like this.  

I was stationed at Ft. Hood from 2001 to 2005, during that time I bought a house (an exit from the front gate of Ft. Hood), I still live there, although, my house is up for sale.  I did a tour in Iraq, not to mention Bosnia, Kosovo, and Macedonia, in the ‘90s.  I am a disable veteran with PTSD and Distimia, and although the help is there and has gotten so much better, it’s still not sufficient.  It was hard for me to reintegrate when I came back, even from a “peace keeping” mission.  I was married to a fellow soldier, who has 80% disability, all physical…  It was hard for him, too.  Needless to say, our marriage didn’t survive all the deployments (between the two of us, we deployed 9 times during 1993 - 2005, and never at the same time).  Imagine never seeing your husband for a year at a time.  The tragedy at Ft. Hood yesterday is horrific and, guess what, had nothing to do with deployments, family separations, PTSD, or anything remotely close to what soldiers had to deal with on a daily basis.  This Major never deployed, was stationed at Walter Reed, and now for the first time he is deploying and went freaking berserk!  He is in no way a reflection of our Armed Forces or our veterans.  As I’m sitting here in my office looking out at the half-staffed flags in front of this VA hospital, my heart goes out to all the families and victims in this tragedy.  God Bless our Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, Seamen and their families.  
P.S. I have been reading this blog for years, and only commented once on the “pear shaped” pear. Margaret and Ed are great…