Ft. Hood victims bound for Dover Air Force Base
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The victims of Thursday’s shooting at Ft. Hood, Texas, are expected to be taken to Dover Air Force Base, which handles the remains of all troops killed overseas.
Officials said the Delaware base had the counseling, mortuary and forensic teams in place to assist with the investigation and families.
Army officials confirmed that the alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was due to be deployed overseas, but provided no additional information. Lt. Gen. Robert Cone said today that Hasan was to be deployed to Afghanistan, not Iraq as officials initially said.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates was at the White House this morning, briefing President Obama on the shooting. Gates announced that the Department of Defense will observe a moment of silence throughout the world at 2:34 p.m. EST (11:34 a.m. Pacific time).
Top Army officials, including Army Secretary John McHugh and Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey, traveled to Ft. Hood this morning. They are expected to participate in a news conference after the moment of silence.
The Army is sending a variety of counseling resources to aid victims’ families in Ft. Hood, Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner said. Three teams of chaplains and chaplain assistants will arrive in the next 48 hours. Ten more teams will be dispatched in the days after.
The military also will be sending behavioral health teams, family counselors and five combat stress control teams from Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.
Bergner said that some of the counseling would be focused on providing aid to Ft. Hood counselors themselves.
“There is care for the caregivers and that is part of the capability going to Ft. Hood,” Bergner said.
Army officials have been slow at providing details of the attack. For hours on Friday, the public was told that Hasan had been killed in the attack, when in fact he was alive and in custody.
Bergner said the information was not corrected more promptly because of the “fog and friction” of the situation.
-- Julian Barnes