| University community reacts to Fort Hood shooting |
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| Written by Johnathan Silver and Ali Mustansir, The Shorthorn senior staff | ||||
| Thursday, 05 November 2009 09:37 PM | ||||
  Accounting junior Caleb Warner and Benjamin Copeland, political science graduate student, watch a breaking news update about the Fort Hood shootings on Thursday evening in the University Center. Copeland was stationed at Fort Hood 10 years ago and is still in contact with friends there. (The Shorthorn: Stephanie Goddard) A gunman opened fire on other military personnel and civilians, killing 12 and wounding 31. Some students, staff and faculty spent the day texting and calling loved ones in the area while trying to stay abreast of the developing news. “We make up one percent of the population of the United States. We’re a small segment of society,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Smith, ROTC’s recruiting and scholarship officer at UTA, of people in the military. “When anything affects one member of our family, it affects all of us. The scope of this tragedy will impact and affect all of us.” Smith said he and others in the department were calling during the attacks to find out what was going on at the base. He said he was shocked and concerned about the mass shooting. The situation was hectic, said 2nd Lt. Tedd Kuchta, alumnus and Gold Bar recruiter. InformationFort Hood Family Hotline866-836-2751 254-288-7570 Red Cross Web site for checking on family or friends: SafeAndWell.org Kuchta is tentatively scheduled to work out of Fort Hood after training and after finishing with ROTC in March 2010. Benjamin Copeland, a veteran and political science graduate student, was stationed at Fort Hood and left in 1999. He said the rampage was horrible. “The lines were blocked,” Copeland said. “Best way to get a hold of someone was through text messages.” Copeland said he still keeps in touch with base personnel. He said he would wait until the situation was resolved to make calls checking on friends. Social work senior Anthony Pone, a veteran, said he thought the military deals with enough overseas, without having to deal with chaos here. “It is very sad and unfortunate,” Pone said. “As a nation, we should be sticking together. These are the people who are saving the world. Me, as a veteran, I feel ashamed.” ROTC cadets have been practicing for a march from the university to Fort Hood, a tradition that hasn’t been exercised for nearly 50 years. Smith said he was 99.99 percent sure that this tragedy would not affect the plans slated for a March 2010 march, because the event was far away. Tomas Lobo, mechanical and aerospace engineering major, said the saddest part is that when soldiers are training to go to war they expect that they might die, but not by being shot by a fellow soldier. “It kind of leaves us with no one to trust,” Lobo said. - Stephanie Goddard contributed to this story Views: 470 | E-mail
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