In Memory of the Fallen Soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas (pictures below)

Yesterday was a stressful day for us in Killeen, TX.  The Killeen Independent School District had an early out so at 1:00pm I started making my rounds.  First to my oldest son's school to get him.  Walk home and then jump in the car to get my youngest son from preschool across town.  Got home around 2:30pm, put some cartoons on the Directv for the boys and I cracked open a book for some down-time before getting dinner started.  My husband calls.  He works on Fort Hood.  He tells me that he's OK.  "Of course you are, why wouldn't you be?"  Then he told me there was a shooting on post.  OK.  It's a military installation and there are lots of weapons...not being carried around by Soldiers all the time...locked up, but if you go to the range, deploy, maintenance, etc. the weapons come out.  I guess it just wasn't sinking in and my hubby could tell.  Then he tells me 7 are dead and the post was locked down.  It sank in and the news went on in the other room so I could watch and the kids could still be entertained away from me.  You know it's bad when it's on ALL the news networks.  I called my hubby's parents.  I texted his sisters.  Called my mom.  Wanted everyone to know he was OK.

So much speculation and misinformation was put out.  Is it our society or generation's need for instant gratification that makes everyone jump to conclusions?  I expect this to an extent, but not on news networks!  It was frustrating, but it was news and I suppose at the time I was delighted to have some.

A friend of mine is staying with me before heading to Iraq.  She's supposed to leave in the next week or so, and her friend just returned from Iraq.  They could have been anywhere on post.  Thankfully she called me right after my husband to let me know that she and her friend were off post when it happened so they were safe (and wouldn't be able to get on post).  Slowly news came in from friends, texts went out with updates.  Seriously, I texted more yesterday than in the entire decade of owning a cell phone!

Kids were stuck at after school programs until 9:00pm or later waiting and hoping for their parents to show up.  Those poor little guys.  It's one thing to worry about mom or dad when their deployed, but to have to worry about them going to work everyday.  And you know that's going to happen for some of them.

OK...so jackass...er, MAJOR Nidal Malik Hasan didn't want to deploy...OK.  Who the hell does?  So he was of Arab descent...who cares lots of people in our military are.  That doesn't mean that they pull this crap.  But dude was a PSYCHIATRIST who specialized in TRAUMATIC STRESS!  Dude goes to the SRP building and just opens up on Soldiers returning and preparing for deployment.  For those who don't know this is a building where the Soldiers tie up loose ends prior to deployment (wills, shots, etc) and get things in order upon their return.  EVERYONE SRPs.

But dude takes it out on his brothers and sisters in arms!  There is a special place in hell for a person like MAJ Hasan, but thankfully he is not there yet.  I am soooooooo glad that they got him alive.  I want to know WHY!!!!  I hate those people that take it to the grave.  I'm looking forward to military justice for this dirtball.  He's lucky I don't believe in torture.  I want to see him in a military prison.  Oh how the imprisoned Soldiers will welcome him!

I'm sure in the days and weeks to come we'll get a better picture of the why and how of the whole thing, but I want to take time to remember the fallen.  Those who served their country and were gunned down by a coward.

PFC Aaron Thomas Nemelka - West Jordan, UT







 

PVT Franceska Velez - Chicago, IL     (3 months pregnant)

PFC Michael Pearson - Bolingbrook, IL

 SPC Jason Dean Hunt - Frederick, OK

SGT Amy Krueger - Kiel, WI

(CPT) John Gaffaney - Serra Mesa, CA

CPT Russell Seager - Mount Pleasant, WI

Michael Grant Cahill (civilian) - Spokane, WA

SPC Kham Xiong - Saint Paul, MN

(MAJ) Juanita Warman - Havre De Grace, MD

 SSG Justin DeCrow - Plymouth, IN

 MAJ Libardo Eduardo Caraveo -Woodbridge, VA

SPC Frederick Greene - Mountain City, Tennessee





Rest in Peace to our brave men and women.  You were taken from life far too soon.

I will update this posting as new names become available.  If you click on their pictures you will be taken to a news article about that fallen Soldier (who knows how long the links will work).

The Fort Hood AUSA branch is taking donations for this tragedy.  If you are writing a check please include "Community Response to 11/5" on the memo line.

For more information, e-mail AUSA at Leadership@forthoodausa.org


The Central Texas-Fort Hood Association of the U.S. Army
Attn.: Community Response to 11/5
P.O. Box 10700
Killeen, TX 76547-0700

Nasty little gits....

So I'm driving back from dropping my son off at preschool yesterday and this jacked up truck flies past me going at least 10 miles per hour over the speed limit and spewing from his tailpipe was copious amounts of black exhaust. Boy, when I lived in California did I complain about their ways, but the grass is always greener...I now appreciate non-smoking restaurants and emissions control! But I live in the great state of Tex-ass, where a fairly large number of people seem to think that they've got the God-given right to drive the biggest gas-guzzlers on the planet...just 'cuz. Who cares if my vehicle gets 2 mpg! Screw the planet and my descendants! But I can't change them, so all I can really say is, "Nice HUMMER...sorry about your penis..."

David Tennant in an American TV show?!?!

David Tennant as The Doctor

I don't know how excited to be about this, but David Tennant is going to be starring in an American comedy drama. I think it's great that he landed the lead, but knowing how bad the execution of some of our shows are (let's think the American version of "Life on Mars" people) I'd hate to see him fail at this. I know that the show won't fail because of his skill as an actor. It would be due to some other stupidity with the marketing, directing, etc....

OK, so I'll try to be positive and rephrase it all to "WOW!!!! David Tennant is FINALLY coming to an American series and in the LEAD!!! I can't wait to watch!" No news on what he's going to do with his accent. He's got an awesome Scottish accent that I'd love to see him use, but he can do an English accent almost flawlessly. I hope they don't try to make him do an American accent, but if they insist, I'm sure such a talented man will be able to pull it off!


Here's the link to the brief update on "Rex Is Not Your Lawyer"

http://tennantnews.blogspot.com/2009/11/davids-us-tv-debut.html

And another with some varied details

http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/11/doctor-who-star-lands-nbc-pilot.html

Scott Brown on why Americans may be ready for Doctor Who

OK...I don't know who Scott Brown is but I DO know Doctor Who. Heck, I've been watching it since I was about 12 years old. I fought it. I didn't want to do it. I would hide in my room and watch M*A*S*H on a tiny black and white TV in order to NOT fall into what my father and sisters were watching in the living room. After all, if my dad was watching it, it had to be crap. I mean what did he know!?! Honestly, this must have been one of the few things he got right...or maybe he was introduced to it from one of my sisters. Either way, M*A*S*H was preempted one evening and begrudgingly I headed out to the living room. I remember the doctor...Tom Baker. I remember the episode..."The Leisure Hive". I was hooked in one viewing and never looked back.

Doctor Who was (and can still be at times) an obsession. It was incredible. Awesome. It was everything to a little 12 year old. I would tape record the episodes so I could listen to them when the show wasn't on PBS. After we finally got a VCR I would record the episodes and watch them constantly. I used my allowance to purchase the Doctor Who books and I read and read and read. Doctor Who began my love affair with reading, with Shakespeare, with history! What a positive impression on young ones. Someone who fights for what's right with a certain flair. He doesn't come out with guns blazing...he uses his MIND (something people should do nowadays!) He resorts to the extreme when no other option is open to him. He is a fictional hero, a thrilling adventurer, and (sometimes) a rather sexy man!

I've certainly "poisoned" my childrens' minds with Doctor Who. My youngest son, now 3, has been saying "Doctor Who" since he was 10 months old. Not quite his first words, but one of them! Am I proud of that? You bet'cha (Ick...I'll try not to use that phrase again)! With all the awful role models out there that our children can watch on TV, isn't it lovely to have one that we wouldn't mind our children watching on TV? What a refreshing change! Not so new though...the Doctor has been around since November 1963. And I'm delighted that after a not so brief hiatus of 15 years, he's back and better than ever!

So, you've heard my views on the Doctor. I could go on, but I love what Scott Brown wrote and he is, after all, what inspired this post. Read on, and if you haven't given the Doctor a try be sure you do! Tune into BBC America for episodes. You can still catch some on SyFy (what a stupid name) from time to time, but none of the upcoming seasons...just the first four, which are superb. You can even throw Doctor Who in your rental queue on Netflix. Don't wait. Try it. See what all the rage is about!

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/pl_brown_drwho/