Amazing Grace

was cut off by CNN during the broadcast of the memorial service.  I wish to bring it to you hear in its entirety

God Bless America

As I sit and watch the Ft. Hood Memorial Service taking place not far from where I am writing this message.  I see tiny children sitting with their parents, toddling in innocence unaware of the travesty that has taken place inside our own military base.  I can’t help  but wonder, who now are these soldiers going to trust?  This gunman was one of the group of pyschiatrists to whom they are supposed to go for help.  Who now can they trust?  The next “assigned pyschiatrist”?  I wouldn’t.  This is the largest military base in the world.  If our largest, supposedly our best, is this vulnerable INSIDE the walls, how vulnerable are the rest of the soldiers inside the country?

My heart goes out to those who lost family and friends, but my fear is for the remaining soldiers who might need to be under the care of a pychiatrist and now will not.  What kind of trickle down effect is this event going to cause?  I don’t think we, as citizens will ever know.   As stated by the commentators, the military has closed ranks about the circumstances that lead up to this event.

The service, at this moment, has  been delayed, due to the Presiden’ts conversations with the families, although this is just supposition on the part of the media.  No one really knows why it is being delayed.  As we wait, we are being shown the huge walls around the facility there only to protect the servicemen and women who are attending the service.  I see the wonded coming in as the commentatioin glibly says “their wounds will heal”…..  But what about those wounds inside that will not be addressed BECAUSE of the position of authority of the shooter.

A senseless act in the middle of Texas inside the largest military base in the world.  Could it have been prevented?

Rest in Peace:

Chief Warrant Officer Michael Grant Cahill (Ret.), Cameron, Texas

Michael Cahill, 62, liked his job as a physician’s assistant at Fort Hood so much that he only took one week of recovery time after undergoing heart surgery, his sister told CNN affiliate KREM.

Maj. Libardo Eduardo Caraveo, Woodbridge, Virginia

Libardo Eduardo Caraveo, 52, arrived in the United States from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico in the mid-1970s, when he was a teenager, his son, Eduardo Caraveo told the Arizona Daily Star.

Army Staff Sgt. Justin DeCrow, Plymouth, Indiana

Justin DeCrow, 32, was a “loving husband and father, and we’re going to miss him,” sobbed his wife, Marikay DeCrow, from their home in Evans, Georgia.

The couple has a 13-year-old daughter.

Capt. John Gaffaney, San Diego, California

John Gaffaney, a 56-year-old Army reservist, was a psychiatric nurse and worked for two decades in San Diego County, California, where he helped elderly victims of abuse and neglect.

Spc. Frederick Greene, Mountain City, Tennessee

Greene, 29, was assigned to the 510th Engineer Company, 20th Engineer Battalion, Fort Hood, Texas.

Spc. Jason Dean Hunt, Tipton, Oklahoma

Hunt, 22, wanted to be part of something greater than himself, his sister Leila Willingham told CNN. He enlisted in the Army in 2006 and spent his 21st birthday in Iraq, she said. He chose to re-enlist, dedicating the next six years to the military.

Sgt. Amy Krueger, Kiel, Wisconsin

Amy Krueger, 29, was a high school athlete who joined the military after the September 11, 2001, attacks, Kiel High School Principal Dario Talerico told the Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Journal Sentinel.

Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka, West Jordan, Utah

Aaron Nemelka, 19, graduated from high school and enlisted in the military in the same year — 2008. He was set to deploy to Afghanistan in January, his family told CNN affiliate KUTV.

Pfc. Michael Pearson, Bolingbrook, Illinois

Michael Pearson, 22, enlisted in the Army more than a year ago to realize his musical dream. He hoped the military would be his path to college, where he could study musical theory, his brother Kristopher Craig told CNN affiliate WGN-TV in Chicago, Illinois.

Capt. Russell Seager, Racine, Wisconsin

According to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, radio station WUWM, which did a profile on Russell Seager earlier this year, the 51-year-old man was a nurse from the VA Medical Center in Milwaukee and worked to help veterans with mental health problems related to war experience.

Pvt. Francheska Velez, Chicago, Illinois

Francheska Velez, 21, lived the dream her father never realized.

Velez enlisted three years ago, an act her father Juan Guillermo Velez always wanted to accomplish, he told CNN affiliate WGBO. He encouraged his three-months pregnant daughter to stick with the military after she gave birth.

Lt. Col. Juanita L. Warman, Havre De Grace, Maryland

Warman, 55, was assigned to the 1908th Medical Company, Independence, Missouri.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which spoke with Warman’s sister Margaret Yaggie of Roaring Branch, Pennsylvania, the slain woman was a military physician’s assistant.

Spc. Kham Xiong, St. Paul, Minnesota

Kham Xiong, 23, was preparing for his first deployment since joining the Army, his sister told CNN affiliate KARE.

Xiong enlisted last year and was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in January, Mee Xiong said.

The above list obtained from www.cnn.com