Quadsville

I just finished reading this info from some Ft. Hood Chaplains . I will not share it all, but I will share the thoughts that do stand out in this woman’s story. I will let you make your judgments and I will not comment until after this is posted.

LCMS chaplains, World Relief respond to Fort Hood shootings

These are the words of Chaplain Dann Ettner, one of four Missouri Synod chaplains assigned to Fort Hood, in the wake of the Nov. 5 shootings there. Ettner, an active duty reservist, lost five members of his division during the rampage that left eight others dead and 42 wounded. Because all five of the dead in his division were from other states, chaplains in their home areas were responsible for notifying their families. Ettner's duty "turned to comforting the living."

In an e-mail, he wrote, "I spent the first night in the ICU with four of my [injured] soldiers. On Friday morning I attended the military ramp ceremony where they loaded the 13 caskets into a military aircraft bound for Dover Air Force Base, Delaware."

The base serves as the transit point for slain soldiers prior to their funerals.

"We continue to work with the hospitalized, their families who have traveled here, as well as the soldiers who were released from the hospital and returned to their units," he added. "Survivors' guilt is huge right now. Soldiers are starting to say, 'I should have, could have, would have.'"

"When the initial news reports went out about the shootings, there was no mention of any civilians who had died," he said. "Therefore, when I showed up with the CACO [Casualty Assistance Calls Officer] at the home of Mr. Cahill, his wife was caught off guard by the news." Michael Cahill of Cameron, Texas, was a 62-year-old physician's assistant who helped treat soldiers returning from tours of duty or preparing for deployment and was in the processing center at the time of the shooting. I assisted [Cahill's wife] in making phone calls to tell loved ones, and made sure a friend would be staying with her until her family arrived. They are a strong, Christian family," Washington said.

"Probably the most intense moments of the week were during the memorial ceremonies when 'roll call' began and the [names of the] deceased are called -- three times -- and there is no answer. The silence was a powerful and poignant reminder that precious lives were senselessly silenced."

"These ceremonies tear your heart out," Hernandez said that same day in a radio interview on KFUO-AM. "To see all these young people, just children practically, whose friends and comrades have been taken away, it's so emotional."

"Most of them came in with limited resources on a moment's notice," said Nancy Ingenloff, leader of the FRG and a pre-kindergarten teacher at Grace. "We are trying to help them with food, gas, housing, and other basic needs while they are here."

Rev. Bernard Schey, pastor of Trinity, Copperas Cove, said that, although no one in the congregation had family members injured or killed, the event still affects the congregation indirectly, as many are either retired military or employed on the post.

One Trinity member is a respiratory therapist and was on duty at the hospital where the more seriously wounded were taken. "Not only was she treating the young men and women who were wounded, ………………………………..........but then she also had to treat the alleged shooter, an obviously difficult position, and she became extremely upset," he said. Schey added that he has been ministering to her through phone calls and visits.

　And Lastly This:

The work here has just begun," Hernandez wrote in his Web site message. "We know that recovery is a long-term process. But we are blessed to be here in the early aftermath of this tragedy. As the chaplain said in his meditation at the memorial ceremony for the soldiers, 'We are to make God real for each other in our grief.'"