For many, perhaps everyone, 2020 will go down as a year theyâd rather forget. However, the huge news that came in 2020 is unforgettable.
By March, the coronavirus had swept into the world, the nation and Central Texas, drastically changing the way people work, shop, eat and live. It ushered in changes to the Killeen-Fort Hood area that will likely leave lasting impacts to the local landscape. It impacted everyone.
A month later, on April 22, a Fort Hood soldier went missing. Frantic searches, protests, blame and a national spotlight on Fort Hood followed. Eventually it was discovered that Spc. Vanessa Guillen had been reportedly killed by a fellow soldier. Her body was found more than two months later near the Leon River south of Temple.
Fort Hood report shows readiness trumped SHARP program John Robinson December 16, 2020 A T-shirt worn by a soldier at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., on April 17, 2020, represents efforts to prevent sexual harassment and assault in today’s Army. (Sgt. Uriah Walker/Army) One name loomed large over the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee report released on Dec. 8 by the secretary of the Army, a name found nowhere in its sprawling 152 pages, but that hung like a shadow over its damning conclusions: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley. The godfather of military readiness took a direct hit in the report, which concluded, “Across the installation, and especially in the Combat Brigades and their supporting elements, readiness was the primary focus of all activities, while the [Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention] program and the general well-being of Soldiers was a distant second. Mission readiness completely overshadowed the SHARP
Fort Hood And Boy Scouts of America Show How Toxic Culture Breeds Sexual Abuse
The cost of a toxic culture: This undated photo provided by the U.S. Army shows Pvt. Corlton L. Chee. The Navajo Nation has joined calls for an accounting of the deaths at Fort Hood after one of its members became the latest soldier from the U.S. Army post to die this year. Chee, a 25-year-old soldier from Pinehill, N.M., died on Sept. 2, 2020, after he collapsed following a physical fitness training exercise five days earlier, according to officials at the central Texas post. He was the 28th soldier from Fort Hood to die this year, according to data obtained by The Associated Press.
Widespread Army NCO Shortage a Factor in Leadership Crisis at Fort Hood, General Says
U.S. Army Forces Command’s then-Command Sgt. Maj. Michael A. Grinston, who is now Sergeant Major of the Army, speaks to soldiers of E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, on May 22, 2018. (Army photo by Sgt. Steven Lopez)
15 Dec 2020
As the Army struggles to comprehend the crisis at Fort Hood, Texas, one four-star general is wrestling with how to prevent those leadership failures from spreading to other combat units across the service.
Gen. Michael Garrett, head of Army Forces Command (FORSCOM), suspects that many young leaders across the service simply don t know how to take care of their soldiers, a discipline that s likely been neglected over the past several years as combat units remain on intense training cycles to prepare for the possibility of a major war with adversaries such as Russia and China.