Sorrow clouds holidays at still-recovering Hood

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Sorrow clouds holidays at still-recovering Hood
By Donna Leinwand and Sharon Jayson - USA Today
Posted : Wednesday Dec 23, 2009 8:03:51 EST

For the first time in 22 years, Sheryll Pearson won’t put up a Christmas tree. Suddenly, the holiday she’s always loved is “horrible.”

Pearson’s son, Mikey — Army Pfc. Michael Pearson, 22, who specialized in defusing bombs — is dead, gunned down last month in the rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, that killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others. Maj. Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, is charged with the slayings.

For families of the victims, for the injured and for the many who call the post at Fort Hood home, the Nov. 5 tragedy remains a fresh, stinging wound in what should be a joyous holiday season. Injured soldiers are wrestling with rehab as their units deploy overseas. Soldiers who live at Fort Hood have put on a brave face as they regain their sense of security. Professional counselors and chaplains are trying to help everyone make sense of it all.

The soldiers at Fort Hood are accustomed to witnessing death. The sprawling, 340-square-mile post between Dallas and Austin is one of the largest military installations in the world, home to about 50,000 soldiers. Among the units based there are the III Corps and 1st Cavalry, both of which have sent troops for multiple tours of duty in Iraq.

Yet the deaths they’ve witnessed have been in combat, not at home — not in the place they expect to find solace and security.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/gns_army_hood_holidays_122309/