For the soldiers stationed at Fort Hood in Texas, the base was supposed to be a safe place where they could rest and prepare for deployments overseas. That peaceful place was rocked on Nov. 5 when Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, unexplainably opened fire on his fellow soldiers, killing 13 and wounding 30 more.
Now that a few days have passed, the Army as well as the general public are left with only questions as to why a high-ranking military psychiatrist would so viciously attack his comrades.
What caused this is a question that will probably never be fully answered. True, Hasan did survive his rampage, but he will no doubt take the reasons why he did this to his grave, as so often happens during such tragedies.
Many ideas as to why Hasan would attack have been proposed during these early days of the investigation such as post traumatic stress disorder, (PTSD), or maybe as a way to avoid his deployment.
The most interesting suggestion was that this may have been Hasan acting out from some oppression he felt due to the fact that he was a Muslim soldier in the U.S. Army. It is unfortunate that there is still a small percentage of Americans that believe most people of the middle eastern decent are accossicated with terrorist activities.
These feelings of resentment may be even stronger on a military base where a large quantity of men and women have been overseas fighting people of the same decent as Hasan and this may cause them to bring some of that hatred or dislike home.
This is not saying that this type of judgment is OK by any means, but consider the intense emotional and physical strains these men and women are put through.
They are away from family and friends for months at a time and put under the stress of trying to maintain survival for themselves and their fellow soldiers. This puts many of them in an unreal mindset and may give them some subconscious hatred for a race or group they are required to fight against.
It’s easy to see how Hasan may have felt uncomfortable being a part of a military effort to bring down a group that at some level he supports due to his membership. Hasan fought in the U.S. military but it does not mean he has no ties to his roots. The only thing the military can do now is provide support to those families who have lost their loved ones as well as prevent this tragedy from happening again. This may mean stricter psychiatric rules or more classes on how to adjust when the stress becomes too much for a soldier to take.