I have been watching with great interest -- and a very heavy heart -- the news coming out of Fort Hood, Texas.

As most of you are aware by now, Army Maj. Nidal Hasan is accused of killing 13 soldiers and injuring 31 others in a shooting rampage that took place last week. What makes this tragedy so unprecedented is the role Hasan played in the military: he was a psychiatrist, a doctor placed in a position specifically to help other soldiers emotionally heal from trauma sustained in the war. As any mental health care practitioner knows, the first rule of our occupation is, at the very least, do no harm!

I think the Pentagon's former top doctor S. Ward Casscells captured it best when he said, "Our focus was on the doctors to dig deep and do all they can for these (troops). To have one of our own do this, is personally crushing."



I don't wish to speculate on the state of mind of Hasan, but I find it extremely difficult to come to grips with his actions. If he didn't wish to be deployed to Afghanistan or was opposed to the war in general, surely there must have been many other ways of expressing his disapproval. What did the taking of all these innocent lives accomplish in the end? Absolutely nothing, except tremendous grief for the 13 families who lost a father, a son, a sister, a daughter, a grandma, a brother, a husband, a wife, a mother, and an unborn child.

Amongst the victims was one of our LDS brothers: Pfc. Aaron Nemelka, age 19. He was set to deploy to Afghanistan in two months. A life full of promise was cut short by the incomprehensible actions of one individual. When these brave men and women are deployed to go to war, they do it with the full knowledge that they may not return, but when they are stationed here in the U.S. and living in their military bases, they are supposed to be free from those dangers.

A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity and great honor to work with some of the best and brightest of our armed forces. Along with my partners Dr. Terry Lyles and Jenner Marcucci, we provided Traumatic Stress Response (TSR) training for all the U.S. Air Force Space Command bases from Vanderberg Air Force Base in California to Patrick Air Force Base in Florida.

We met and visited with hundreds of dedicated, committed and loyal members of the military. Part of the training was coming up with possible traumatic scenarios or emergencies that could happen and how to best respond. Shockingly, this was one of them: a shooting at a U.S. base. Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would actually take place. Sadly, it has, and it will take a very long time for the "military family" in Fort Hood to heal and recover from this tragedy.

For most of us, life will go on, but for those personally affected by this horrific event, life will never be the same. I hope and ask for everyone's prayers to be with the victims' families. Regardless of how each one of us feels about the war, these men and women in our military are serving ALL of us -- doing their duty, protecting our freedoms and liberties.

May God bless them in their time of need. Let us not forget them. Let us keep them in our hearts and prayers!