But then certain details start illuminating the mystery: that one out of three women soldiers have experienced sexual harassment, according to a recent survey. He got home around 2 p.m. and told his wife, Gloria, about the unusual aches. The stories are gruesome, then heartbreaking, then beyond belief. Guillens family said the 20-year-old Army Specialist was killed after threatening to report a soldier for sexual harassment. They are brave soldiers protecting us, and especially now, we need legislation.. His killers were never looked for properly and thus never found. I felt a bad vibe there, Lupe says, referring to Fort Hood. He died in 1879, leaving a troubled legacy that is only now beginning to be questioned. So when, the following spring, Fort Hood offered a $15,000 reward for information about Guillen, then raised it to $25,000 in June, Kim called to demand the same. (He was found a day later.) During the day, though, it was still hot enough that if you dropped a beer bottle, the contents appeared to dry on contact. I believe in Vanessa, and know how it feels to not be believed. And if, God forbid, by daughter turns up dead, shut down this baseThat girl is my life, I adore her, thats why I am fighting with nails and teeth until they return her and the guilty pay.. A annual report by the Pentagon revealed that in fiscal year 2019 the Army received 5.5 reports of sexual assault per every 1,000 soldiers, a rate that did not change from the previous year, and doesnt account for those who choose not to report their assaults. Later, Robinson would tell investigators that Guillen completed her task and exited the building. Jessica Mitchell and 19-year-old Pfc. Who were the soldiers who had testified to seeing Guillen leave the arms room the day she disappeared? That morning, Guillen had left her third-floor barracks and headed downstairs to her work station at the motor pool, a vast garage for military vehicles. [5] Vanessa Guillen. Heather OsbourneAustin American-Statesman via AP, Inside the Utah National Guard DC Deployment. Two soldiers Pvt. Army Secretary. The four were Michael's fellow soldiers. (Carolyn Kaster/AP) The rates of certain violent crimes, including murder, are generally . But when Kim called the police, they dismissed her, telling Kim that her son probably just took off. (Killeen Police stated they have no knowledge of anyone declining to investigate.) The military, Rodriguez said, had known about this but had refused to treat him. In 2018, a soldier was allegedly shot and killed in her front yard by her husband at Fort Campbell, in Kentucky, which also has one of the highest rates of suicide in the Army. On July 1, Fort Hood officials announced that the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) and other law enforcement were attempting to locate a junior soldier from Fort Hood who fled the post late on June 30. Casteel had been stationed at Fort Hood since the end of June, where hed been bullied for a spinal injury that consigned him to desk duties. The next day, Wedel-Morales failed to show up for duty, and the day after that, he was classified as absent without leave, making him one of the thousand or so soldiers who go AWOL in any given year. March 17, 2023, 7:07 AM PDT By Marlene Lenthang A female soldier died earlier this week at Fort Hood, the same Army base in Texas where Vanessa Guilln was murdered three years ago, officials. Mitchell, a drill sergeant assigned to the U.S. Army Medical Center for Excellence at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, was shot to death around 2:30 a.m. on New Year's Day while driving on Interstate 10 in San Antonio, according to the San Antonio Police Department. [2] [3] It was the deadliest mass shooting on an American military base. I am astounded nobody is interested, the Fernandes family lawyer Lenny Kesten told me. She told family and friends that she was being sexual harassed by two different soldiers who outranked her, including Robinson, but never formally reported the allegations, fearing retaliation. One of the first times she stepped onto the base, a rosary she had been carrying in the palm of her hand tore apart, its beads scattering over the concrete ground. They returned several days later to pour concrete over the remains. Mitchell was on holiday leave at the time of her death, LeMaster said. By Nicole Lopez. Thats the stage that the family needs, Ordex said. FORT GREGG-ADAMS, Va. (WWBT) - What was once Fort Lee's Army base now bears the names of two Black military officers. According to the criminal complaint, two witnesses interviewed on May 18 told CID that they saw Robinson on April 22 pulling a large tough box, with wheels, that appeared very heavy in weight, coming out the arms room where he worked. Fort Bragg is the largest military base in the U.S. and the command post for the Army's most elite units, such as Delta Force and the Green Berets, which have borne a disproportionate burden. Should inmates in Texas be eligible for early parole if they exhibit good behavior? I will continue spreading her name until she is found and justice is served., Nathalie Ocampo Meda, a member of the Marines, shared that she was sexually harassed and threatened on multiple occasions. Ive lost brothers and sisters in arms, a marriage, Ive lost family, Ive lost friendships that were supposed to be forever. The disappearance and killing of soldier Vanessa Guilln has gripped Texas, and reignited widespread outrage over sexual violence in the US military and the failures of recent reforms to address it. Key parts of theI Am Vanessa Guillen Actbecame lawin December 2021, includingcriminalizing sexual harassment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, improving how certain officials respond to sex-related offenses through independent investigations, and removing the decision to prosecute sexual misconduct cases from service members chains of command. Most of the groups were aboveboard, even as they were ruled by certain strictures for meeting attendance, dress code, and how to appropriately signal respect. There have been calls for Congressional investigations and a social media campaign has been launched encouraging women in the military to share their stories of harassment and assault with the hashtag #IAmVanessaGuillen. All rights reserved. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts and Jackie Speier of California, both Democrats, sent a letter to the army secretary, Ryan McCarthy, requesting documents and information on the deaths. Those remains, it turned out, belonged to yet another soldier, Private Gregory Wedel-Morales, who had gone missing the previous summer. (modern). At least 159 Fort Hood soldiers died out of combat between 2016 and last year, including seven homicides and 71 suicides, according to an analysis by The New York Times. Guillen was last seen on April 22. Hazel Buck Blackwell, whose family lost their farm, homestead, barns, orchards, and adjoining land when the base took over, said the closest thing might be the unexpected death of someone you loved very much. It was a heartrending, searing experience, central Texas historian GraDelle Duncan said, leaving lifetime marks on all, and actually killing some from the psychic devastation that followed. There have been several unsolved deaths or disappearances at the base. The 2020 numbers add to ongoing mysteries, including a 2016 case where a corpses hyoid, the U-shaped neck bone typically examined to determine whether strangulation has occurred, was missing. On April 30, 2021, Fort Hood found that Guillen had indeed been sexually harassed by a soldier, but not Robinson.). Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. Rosecrans, shot four times, was found three miles from his vehicle. The body of US Army Sgt Elder Fernandes, whose death is under investigation, is returned to Massachusetts on 1 September 2020. A few days later, they spoke again, for the last time. They also fell short in supporting grieving family members. Fort Hood informed Rodriguez that he had asked for this. She was talking about college. Lynch and Speier said they would report the conditions and circumstances that could have contributed to the soldiers deaths and seek justice on behalf of soldiers and families who may have been failed by a military system and culture that was ultimately responsible for their care and protection. Combat engineer Pvt. It is unclear if Killeen even bothered to visit his namesake town, which, by the early 1880s, comprised 40 people living across 360 acres, mostly working in the two cotton gins, two gristmills, and two saloonsit had the most saloons, gamblers, and shootings per capita in Bell County, according to historian Martha Bowmer. I asked him directly if he wasnt willing to speak because of position and he signaled yes, and he said, Id rather tell you in person. , Several days later, Rodriguez learned that Casteel had been committed to a hospital on base. Fort Hood had refused to list him as missing, and it was only after his then fiance, Paradise Rodriguez, posted a video on Facebook that an officer at the parish jail saw it and got into contact. At 9:30 p.m., Mayra, Cruz, Guillens other sister Yovana, and Yovanas boyfriend set out for Fort Hood. (Among 1.29 million members of the U.S. military, 65,000 are immigrants, according to The Washington Post.) When his parents rushed to the hospital, they saw that Chee, lying unconscious, had bruises and scrapes on his chin and on both sides of his face. All rights reserved. Next I passed Club Dreams, where Specialist Shelby Jones was shot, bled out, and died last March; then Guns Galore, where Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan purchased a semiautomatic pistol that he would use to kill 13 people in 2009. Agamemnon demonstrates disrespect, vanity, and other lapses in judgment, the result of which is what clinical psychiatrist Jonathan Shay describes as moral injurya (i) betrayal of whats right, (ii) by someone who holds legitimate authority, (iii) in a high stakes situation. Such moral injury deteriorates social trust, which is then replaced by the settled expectancy of harm, exploitation, and humiliation from others, resulting in despair and violence to self and to others. They pointed glumly to past cases, some of which there were public records for and others I could find no traces of in the official files. His mother, Kim, only heard from her son when he needed money. There was a deep cut above his left eye, and cuts all over his legs. We are deeply disturbed by the string of deaths at Fort Hood, and if there is any malfeasance or negligence involved, the Navajo Nation calls on our national leaders to pursue every available avenue to protect the lives of our Navajo warriors and those serving in the US armed forces, the Navajo speaker of the council, Seth Damon, said. Instead, a Bunch of Republicans Endorsed Trump. When Ailina contacted the military police at Fort Hood, they told her that Fernandes was an adult, and that if he was missing, he likely didnt want to be found. Club Fuego where Gregory Wedel-Morales was last seen, Killeen Tx. Dominic Criqui, who served in Vanessa Guillens unit, says that the training had come to feel stupid and pointless. What on earth are you training for? he asks, then answers. That is the opposite of what hes been consistently saying.. The man behind Mattress Mack: salesman, gambler introvert? And the mix of suicides and interpersonal violence on base points to a troubling culture among leadership there that Jeong says has trickled down into the lower ranks. Sixty-six per cent of retaliation reports allege that retaliators were in the soldiers chain of command. (Fort Hood contributed nearly $30 billion to the Texas economy in 2019, according to the Texas comptrollers office.). Private Morta died on. The dollhouse, strip club Gregory Wedel Morales frequented, Killeen Tx. Aguilar advised the female soldier never made it out of the Army alive, the complaint states. She was talking about my parents wedding, Mayra Guillen said. Sergeant Brad Reynolds, 37, killed himself on May 16. [4] Hasan was shot and as a result paralyzed from the waist down. On July 2, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Jackie Speier called for an investigation by the Department of Defense Inspector General. In death, she is no longer a daughter or a sister or a partner. Amid national pressure to rename such bases, a recent Military Times poll found near-50% support for such moves among service personnel. If he killed himself, dont they want to know why?. Pfc. Ana Basaldua Ruiz was found dead on Monday at the same military base. Rodriguez sensed something was off. Driving into Killeen last fall, what greeted me was a deer, roadkill, that had been severed in half. Speier leads the armed services subcommittee on military personnel. ), On July 3, a fortnight after Wedel-Moraless body was found, Specialist Miguel Yazzie, 33, died at Fort Hood after his repeated requests to see a doctor were denied, according to Carma Johnson, whose brother died at Fort Hood. Stump was going 82 mph in a 30-mph zone, the investigation report said, and had hit a tree on a mound. When Ailina offered the Fort Hood authorities the contents of her sons car, including a laptop, iPad, and external hard drive, they declined to investigate further. And military leaders have struggled to deal with the culture Jeong says is driving the violence. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) held a news conference Friday at the main gate of Fort Hood demanding an FBI investigation into Basaldua Ruizs death. As a symbolic gesture, it made sense. She was an exceptional teammate that will truly be missed., Fort Hood shared an update Thursday, saying the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division confirmed that at this point in the investigation into the death of Pvt. The military is necessarily an institution of state-sanctioned violence, where we teach our young to kill on our behalf in the name of ideologies such as patriotism or democracy. The letter said that according to army data there were an average of 129 felonies committed annually at Fort Hood between 2014 and 2019, including cases of homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, robbery and aggravated assault. Because what the military asks of its men and women is so antisocial, it must co-opt the rhetoric of the family. And on June 19, skeletal remains were found in a field behind a cul-de-sac of a residential neighborhood in Killeen. On March 5, 2020, Destanie Sawyers five-year-old daughter found her father, Specialist Christopher Sawyer, 29, after he had shot himself dead in the bedroom of their Fort Hood housing. Later, on June 30, contractors working near the river discovered body parts. Mitchell, a drill sergeant assigned to the U.S. Army Medical Center for Excellence at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, was shot to death around 2:30 a.m. on New Year's Day while driving on Interstate 10 in San Antonio, according to the San Antonio Police Department. Remains of soldiers have been turning up around the Texas military base with terrifying frequency. On the night of August 19, Wedel-Morales went out to Club Fuego, located in a desolate strip mall about 10 miles east of Fort Hood. Two days after Staff Sergeant Anthony Lovell, 40, disappeared in 2017, his body was found, eyes pecked clean, face split in half, in a creek off Killeens seedy main corridor called Rancier, the same street where Specialist Freddy Delacruz, 23, was shot and killed last March. Fort Hood was cast under intense scrutiny when Guilln, a 20-year-old soldier, disappeared from the military base in Bell County on April 22, 2020. We lost a skilled human resource specialist who wanted nothing more than to serve her country and her battle buddies.". He ultimately murdered her when she was eight months pregnant, then set her on fire before fleeing to Mexico. "I hope it's going to be . She was talking about getting married. Awareness and outrage over sexual violence in the military grew after the 2012 documentary Invisible War. On June 18, 3rd Cavalry Regiment Commander Col. Ralph Overland announced the start of an investigation into claims that Guillen was sexually harassed before she disappeared. The purported motto of the Army was family first, mission second, Gary Shafer, a noncommissioned officer who served at Fort Hood from 2012 to 2018 and who knew Wedel-Morales through the car-club scene, told me. And how well will that look on your rsum?, Im 21 now, and let me tell you. Military bases are the last piece of the homeland that soldiers see before they are deployed to fight and the first glimpse of home when they return. Guillen confessed that she was being harassed by another soldier. Its also an Army base, and so its drawing from the working classes. Texas is the proud home to 15 active duty military installations with an economic impact of over $100 billion. As we speak, they are in prayer at the house, she said. Two months later, partial human remains were found along the Leon River in Belton and were identified as those of Guilln. This memory now refreshed, Gloria began asking around for a name and soon learned it through Guillens friend: Aaron Robinson, the last person to have seen her daughter. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital I want her alive because she entered [Fort Hood] alive, Gloria Guillen, Vanessa Guillens mother, said in Spanish at an emotional press conference outside of the base on June 23. Fort Hood is a sprawling base of nearly 215,000 acres, or 340sq miles, founded in 1942 in mid-Texas, between Austin and Dallas. Investigation underway into female soldier's death at Fort Hood, Vanessa Guilln was murdered three years ago, partial human remains were found along the Leon River, criminalizing sexual harassment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. July/August 2021 MAY JEONG DEVIN OKTAR YALKIN. [Vanessa] was supposed to be safe while working and protecting the country we live in, Lupe Guillen told reporters at a June 23 press conference. She had been working that day to confirm serial numbers for weapons and equipment. Fernandes had just been stationed at Fort Hood in January. The body of Gregory Morales, another soldier who went missing in 2019, was discovered on June 19 in Killeen. From Ron DeSantiss plan to severely target undocumented immigrants to mounting calls to bomb Mexico over drug cartels, the GOPs 2024 message on the border is coming into clearer focus. Ad Choices. The ancient Greeks wrote epic poems on the subject, the most famous of which is the Iliad. I will tell you everything. Fernandes was dropped off at his friends house the next day, August 17, never to be seen again. An independent review following her death found that the command climate at Fort Hood created a permissive environment for sexual assault and sexual harassment." One even made chief. Guillen did not disclose the name of the alleged perpetrator to her mother who suggested she would report the man on her daughters behalf. Fort Hood announced that Stump had crashed his car while driving under the influence, though a toxicology report proved inconclusive. Almost 90 lawmakers have signed a letter spearheaded by the Texas representative Sylvia Garcia calling for the defense departments inspector general to investigate Guillns disappearance at Fort Hood. The plan, Wedel-Morales told anyone who would listen, was to use the G.I. Chris and Moses friends of Gregory Wedel-Morales at the site of his remains, Killeen TX. "Her loss is felt not just in our formations but across the Army. Our soldiers and their families deserve the truth, she said. After over two months in which hundreds of people searched for her across large parts of central Texas, remains were found in late June, and were later identified as Guillns. Basic details of the incident kept changing. 2023 Cond Nast. I hide my feelings partly because I believe that nobody will believe me, she wrote on Facebook. An independent group of investigators from the U.S. Army will be probing the rise of serious crimes at Fort Hood, Texas, involving the military base's soldiers. The tributaries that run through Fort Hood flow into the Leon River, where Guillens remains were later found. There, Wedel-Moraless remains had been found, long ago decomposed in the Texas heat. On November 5, 2009, a mass shooting took place at Fort Hood, near Killeen, Texas. The day after Guillen disappeared, Private Gavin Chambers, 21, died on base. Why was Robinson not put under watch? Ana Basaldua Ruiz, 20. . The U.S. Army has fired or suspended 14 officers and soldiers stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, following an investigation into sexual assaults and murders at the base, including the bludgeoning to . Give me the name and I will report the bastard, Gloria told her daughter, who refused to tell her mother more for fear of worrying her, and also, Gloria later suspected, for fear of reprisal. After the public remonstrations began, Fort Hood launched something it called Operation Phantom Action, a weeklong retreat of sorts that was meant to rebuild trust between soldiers and the leadership. Guillen's family said the. The 20-year-old soldier said she was being sexually harassed by superiors before her dismembered body was found in Texas. A second suspect, Cecily Aguilar, 22, was charged on July 2 with one count of conspiracy to tamper with evidence. Women in the military have shared their stories of sexual harassment and assault while on duty as part of a social media campaign started by Lupe Guillen, Vanessas older sister. Five were murdered. (There was also literal toxicity on base in that some of the mold-infested barracks where soldiers lived were technically condemned, according to Maureen Elliott, a military spouse and a housing advocate.). Fort Hood might not even stand out were it not for a particularly bad year among many. Anthony Peden, Pvt. Our sincere condolences go out to her family and friends. (The police opened an investigation on August 19.) Before Fort Hood was built, the land was used for grazing by some 3,000 farmers and ranchers, according to Gerald D. Skidmore, a Killeen historian. As publication approached, it stopped responding to emails pertaining to both specific questions about individual cases as well as broader queries about the base.). Since being stationed at Fort Hood in November 2016, Wedel-Morales had frequented the Dollhouse, a strip club not far from where his remains would eventually be found. The 28th death at Fort Hood this year occurred last week. It installed 35 firing ranges, 18 chapels, three bowling alleys, and 1,384 barracks that would house, at its peak, 95,000 soldiers, the most densely populated military base, at a cost of $35 million. The US army is assembling a civilian review panel of consultants to review the command climate and culture at Fort Hood, the army secretary, Ryan McCarthy, announced last week. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. But at Fort Hood, it sometimes seemed like mission first, equipment second, he said, highlighting the paradox of the military that in word puts the well-being of soldiers first but in deed must, by design, favor combat readiness over all else. He had messaged his sister beforehand to tell her something felt off. We send our deepest condolences and prayers to her friends and loved ones, Col. Geoffrey Whittenberg, commander of the division, said in a statement. Homicides occurred at a rate of nearly one a day over the past three years, while arrests for those crimes dropped. Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now. A woman who was the only person charged in the 2020 killing pleaded guilty on Tuesday to four counts including accessory to murder after the fact. Last year's murder of Pfc. Far from itthe military was operating as it had been intended. Many questions remain unanswered about the events leading up to Guillns death. She did not enter a plea. Rodriguez disputes this claim. [1] Nidal Hasan, a U.S. Army major and psychiatrist, fatally shot 13 people and injured more than 30 others. That American imperialism is imploding, and the blast force radiates inward. His wife, Christal, was denied her husbands mobile phone, the final investigation report, and even his corpse, until Texas Congressman Ron Wright stepped in on that front. Ive been in places that are nominally deemed unsafe, and Killeen just had a bit of a vibe, to use an unscientific term. On Wednesday, April 22, 2020, Guillen reported for duty at Fort Hood. The wave of pain went away as suddenly as it had come on but returned again, and again, and again, over the next hour. The military's highest-profile bases had the highest number of suicides, as Pentagon contends with troops dying not from enemies but their own hands. Vannessa Guilln at Fort Hood led to a reckoning within the Army about sexual assault and harassment. According to a federal criminal complaint, Aguilar identified Robinson as the man who killed Guillen. More 4,000 women and non-binary veterans and active duty members have signed a petition directed at the leaders of Department of Defense and congressional leadership supporting the familys calls. Chee, like Yazzie, was a member of the Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation community, and was new to the base. For the Army to say no foul play would also indicate a tone deafness to the concerns of the father and the mother of Ana Fernanda Basaldua Ruiz who stated that she had been the target of alleged sexual harassment repeated and consistent sexual harassment by other service members up to and including an immediate superior to who she reported, David Cruz, the Communications Director of LULAC, said. Fernandes transferred to another unit where he was called a snitch and worse. The 2020 murder of Spc. Fort Hood hurriedly put up a $25,000 reward for Wedel-Morales as well. McCaskill, a former sex crimes prosecutor, found herself labeled as the roadblock to the most significant piece of congressional legislation challenging rape culture in the military. On May 19, military investigators went through Robinsons phone and learned that he had called his girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, multiple times on the night of April 22, as late as 3:30 a.m., from a town 20 miles east of Fort Hooddespite his claim he had been with Aguilar that night. A recent story in Vanity Fair explores how murders like Guillns, as well as suicides, arent rare on American military bases. From this inauspicious start, Killeen grew into a proper military town and is now home to six strip clubs, 18 pawn shops, 35 dollar stores, and 38 tattoo parlors. At present, the reporting system is designed so that service members report to an internal entity or their superiors in the case of the Army its the Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention, known as SHARP, which the family believes is ineffective. Herdeath also inspired legal reforms to help and protect victims of sexual assault in the military. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. How had he managed to escapeand where had he gotten his gun? Fernandes was dropped off at his friends house the next day, never to be seen again. When verbal turned to physical (I wont get to into it) I reported it to the chaplainAt that moment is when I understood why the victims before me didnt go through with their reportthey were all talked down from it. In fact, Casteel had been convinced that CIA agents were attacking him since last June. (Penny says they met online.) The letter also names Pvt Mejhor Morta and Sgt Elder Fernandes, whose deaths are under investigation, and the homicide investigations of Pvt Brandon Scott Rosecrans, Spc Freddy Delacruz Jr and Spc Shelby Tyler Jones. Guillns family say they learned what allegedly happened to Vanessa as the public did. Eleven of the deaths remain unresolvedsome legally; others for the victims families. They were identified as Sgt. On my very first deployment, new girl, fresh meat. Amarillo Was Vaccinating People At Double The States Pace. We are focused on supporting Drill Sergeant Mitchells family as well as her soldiers during this extremely difficult time," Maj. Gen. Dennis LeMaster, the MEDCoE Commanding General, said in a statement. I lived in Afghanistan for four-and-a-half years. There had been a few people, then it was a group run of 11. On June 21, CID, the Bell County Sheriffs Office and Texas Rangers identified a burn site and disturbed earth near Leon River, but did not find remains that day. Last December, a Special Forces soldier and an Army veteran were found dead at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where another soldier disappeared in May and was later found murdered.
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