SADNESS

I am in Illinois. At an Air Force Base. I am 821.34 miles from Ft. Hood, Texas. Yet a man opening fire and killing 11 people and injuring 31 more hits so close to home. I am consumed with thoughts of what happened. I cannot stop googling it, trying to get more information. My televisions are not an Nick or Disney like they always are. Instead, I am flipping between news channels. I felt compelled to call my soldier, who is out of town (thankfully far from Texas), just to hear his voice and tell him that I loved him.


The army, and the military in general, we are all sort of a family. We are all "in it together," when it comes to most things. We have things in common. We can identify with each other when we go through things like deployments and relocations. We can empathize with each other when we deal with taking care of the children, the bills, the homefront when our military folks are away. We are similar.


But this. This is just too much. Too hard to imagine. I love to live on post and now on base because I feel safe. Safer than anywhere else. I have left my door unlocked. I am alone all the time on base for days on end, and I never worry. I mean, I have to go through a checkpoint and show my ID to come in, for goodness sakes. I never thought to worry about a soldier. Now I cannot think of anything else. I doubt any person who is living at Ft. Hood right now will ever feel totally safe on a military installation again.


Tonight my heart is heavy for all of my "army family" in Texas tonight.
I am speechless and heartbroken.