A new phase of healing Posted On: Tuesday, Nov. 10 2009 05:08 AM By Amanda Kim Stairrett
Killeen Daily Herald

FORT HOOD – Lt. Gen. Robert Cone took command of III Corps and Fort Hood in late September. Less than two months later, in the midst of preparing the corps headquarters for a deployment to Iraq, he was met with one of the biggest acts of violence on a U.S. military installation in American history.

It was a typical Thursday afternoon and soldiers were scheduled to leave work at 3 p.m. thanks to a policy enacted by the post's previous commander. Every Thursday is a short workday for those in uniform at Fort Hood. The previous general called it "family time," and it's a policy Cone kept in place when he took over.

Instead, violence struck on post. Twelve soldiers and one civilian were shot and killed. Thirty-eight wounded. All of this by one of their own.

Cone talked Monday about entering a new phase of healing – the phase with which he has the most concern.

The hard work will be in treating traumatic stress among soldiers and their families because there's not a lot of precedence for something like this, the general said Monday in his office at III Corps headquarters.

More than 600 people were directly touched by Thursday's shooting, to include soldiers, civilians, first responders and hospital workers, he said earlier that day during a press briefing.

"We're doing everything we can to put Fort Hood back to the way it was," Cone said of the post's leaders.

Officials have looked at models developed following the Virginia Tech shooting two years ago. But, Cone went on to say, an installation of military personnel and their families is different from a college campus.

The Fort Hood and surrounding communities are home to different populations of people. Seventy percent of soldiers and their families live off post.

The treatment of soldiers is easiest because the Army has things in place for them already. It is expected that soldiers will face traumatic incidents and they are the most prepared for those.

Officials know that post-traumatic stress manifests itself about 90 days after soldiers return from combat, Cone said. It takes that long to surface because of the excitement surrounding their arrivals.

The general called upon his leaders across post to provide extra care to soldiers who previously showed stress-related behavior problems. He said he didn't know how Thursday's shooting would affect those men and women. Look hard to the left and right, he told them to say to their formations, and make sure "we're taking care of our own."

The challenge is in treating families, civilians and children, Cone said.

The Military Child Education Coalition is helping expand care, and people who specialize in child psychology and disaster management will be available at Fort Hood. The post's Survivor Outreach Services and Resiliency Campus have programs available for soldier and family support. Contact the Military Child Education Coalition at (254) 953-1923, Survivor Outreach Services at (254) 288-3655 and the Resiliency Campus at (254) 285-5693.

Who Cone most worries about are the civilian employees at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center. It's been tough on them, he said. One of those killed Thursday was Michael Cahill, a retired warrant officer who worked at the center as a physician's assistant.

Those employees are getting the counseling and assessment they need, Cone said, but officials must go to the extra mile to make them feel safe once readiness processing operations resume.

"It's really all about restoring normal," he said. "It's all about getting back to feeling safe on Fort Hood."

Perhaps the biggest issue called into question after Thursday was trust. That was lost when a soldier in uniform gunned down his own.

"It's all about trust," Cone said. "Our Army lives and dies on trust."

Soldiers put their lives in the hands of their comrades every day and they're used to walking around in dangerous environments with people who carry weapons.

"We have to restore that trust," Cone said.

In the days following the shooting, security measures tightened. Leaders in the last year have made efforts to make the post more accessible to the public. Visitors could get access from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. by just showing valid identification. That changed Thursday.

Soldiers with Humvees and weapons from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment manned every access point to Fort Hood.

Cone understands the irony of their presence.

"You think about that," he said. "Our solution to the trust problem was to take other soldiers with weapons – probably more powerful weapons – and put them out (there)."

But, he went on to say, he believes in soldiers and "at the end of the day, the soldier is worthy of trust and this is an aberration."

Cone and President Obama are set to lead a memorial ceremony today for the 13 who lost their lives last week at Fort Hood. Cone said it was an honor and solemn duty to lead III Corps during a difficult time, but he couldn't be more proud of the soldiers, families and community.

"We're going to be all right," he said. "Fort Hood is going to be just fine. In the end, it's a terrible loss for many people and lot of wounded young people, but we'll get through this."

Contact Amanda Kim Stairrett at astair@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7547.