Another Fort Hood soldier missing
Sgt. Elder Fernandes
Stars and Stripes reports
Sgt. Elder Fernandes, a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear specialist assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division’s Sustainment Brigade, has been missing from Fort Hood since Monday, according to base officials.
“We have completed a search of the entire division area, to include motorpools, parking lots, and headquarters buildings and the unit is in contact with the soldier’s family, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division and civilian law enforcement agencies to help find him as we continue our search,” according to a base news release.
The disappearance of Fernandes, 23, continues a troubling year for Fort Hood, which is one of the largest military bases in the world with about 36,500 U.S. soldiers assigned to the central Texas base.
In July, the Army identified the remains of Spc. Vanessa Guillén, 20, who had been missing since April. She was killed and dismembered by a fellow soldier, Spc. Aaron Robinson, who shot and killed himself as police were close to taking him into custody, according to court documents.
In June, the remains of Pvt. Gregory Wedel-Morales, 23, were discovered after he was discharged and presumed AWOL in August 2019.
The scrutiny on the base has delayed the planned transfer of the base commander, Maj. Gen. Efflandt, who was slated to take over leadership of the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, a base near El Paso, Texas. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said an independent panel will investigate the “command climate of the installation.”
Officials are asking anyone with information to contact Fort Hood military police at 254-288-1170, Army CID at 254-287-2722, or the Killeen Police Department at 254-200-7905.
It’s gotten bad when an Army post is looking forward to a troop just going UA.
Source; Stars and Stripes
What’s going on in Fort Hood?
Yes… what is REALLY going on at Ft. Hood?
Missing soldier victim of “abusive sexual conduct” and transferred out his unit:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/missing-fort-hood-soldier-victim-220644612.html
too much free time…
More painting rocks, sweeping anything flat and polishing brass will keep idle minds occupied.
I miss the days of field stripping cigarettes.
Smoke em if ya got em.
I miss cigarettes.
Smoked my FIRST cig in Basic, Ft Hard Knocks July ’71. DI, “You not taking a smoke break Trainee”? “I don’t smoke Drill Sergeant!” DI, “Come with me, I got a little detail for you.” Started smoking at the next smoke break, field stripped it and put the butt in my pocket. Smoked my last one the morning of 28 Mar ’18, on my way to the hospital. Field stripped that butt and put it in my pocket just as I did every other one before that when I was not at a butt can/ash tray.
I would still cut your lips off with a straight razor to steal the cig out of your mouth. Will stand downwind to sniff a menthol.
A cavalry CBRN specialist? It makes sense, but my initial mental image is a man on a horse with both in full CBRN gear and it makes me smile a bit inside.
Then I remembered that was actually ‘a thing’ in WWI, and the photos are not as fun as I’d initially suspected.
I remember seeing a Horse gas mask on display at the US Army Cavalry Museum in Fort Riley KS, it was on a mannequin horse.
We still have those, just in case a chemical attack happens in D.C. we need something for AOC.
Oh shame on you…….
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!!!
Yeah BUT, that Equine Gas Mask covered the nose and mouth of the Horse with a tube connected to a big charcoal filter. For AOC you will need a mask that can cover an entire Horse’s ASS!!!
That’s no bull…
Sure, it’s a big base with all the problems of any large area with a lot of people. But, seriously, how many murders, disappearances, and other unusual circumstances (like a couple of prostitution rings) does it take to look closely at what is causing it and put a stop to it?
Perhaps breaking up what is there and reassigning units to other locations is a way to start. I dunno, but somebody needs to figure it out.
It’s probably going to fall on the CG, and rightfully. The problem though has got to go much deeper than the latest guy/gal to be the two-star there for a couple years.
Ft Hood was a dumpster fire when I was stationed there in the mid 90’s, and I guess it still is a dumpster fire after all these years.
Gotten better, but still is.
Does it have anything to do with proximity to the border? And the reported increase in gang members enlisting in order to gain military training?
Only by Texas’ definition of close as meaning “couple or three hundred miles”. Like blaming St. Louis’ problems on Indianapolis.
David,
I don’t disagree, just as best I can recall, it’s the closest army base to the border. I also recall a few instances of soldiers from there smuggling illegals over the border, and when you add in the gangs / cartel angle, “couple or three hundred” isn’t all that much.
Just figure if they’re really interested in fixing the problem, all possible factors need to be looked into.
Fyr, the two closest Army bases to the border probably would be either Fort Bliss (El Paso) or Fort Huachuca, AZ. (15 miles north of border)
Fort Ord wouldn’t count any more since it closed in 1994…
But there are a boatload of military installations closer to the boarder than Fort Hood.
You might want to revisit your math on that one. Fort Ord is/was some 450 miles from the border (unless you’re talking about Nevada).
Don’t mind at all revisiting my math. The point was that it doesn’t matter because Fort Ord is no longer a military installation. (Some folks might find that feeble attempt at humor to be funny. It’s quite all right if you don’t.)
Just to further make the point, it is over 1100 air miles from Fort Hood to Tijuana.
Alright, I’ll admit, base geography is not my strong suit, and I didn’t bother to google it…lol
But thanks for the correction
Geez, Claw – no love for Yuma Proving Ground? It’s not much farther away from the border than Fort Huachuca. (smile)
NAS El Centro.
At least you could see the Blue Angels practice before it got hotter than Satan’s ass crack.
At least it isn’t Visalia (aka Satan’s Taint).
Even Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque is closer. And Holloman AFB and White Sands in Alamogordo are much closer. So are Luke AFB in Phoenix and Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson. Then there’s MCAS Yuma, NAS El Centro, Naval Station San Diego, Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, NAS and Naval Base North Island, Naval Sub Base Point Loma, MCRD San Diego, NAS Miramar and Camp Pendleton.
I’m sure there are more but those are the ones that come to mind without going to the map.
No, Ft Drum is way closer. Even Ft Lewis is closer, and that’s like a five hour drive.
Unless you mean the other border, in which case Ft Bliss is the clear winner… 😉
Ft Hood is a good six hour drive from Reynosa, where I spent many a drunken night in H.S. (The Alaskan, Sam’s U.S. Bar, anyone?)
You from the Valley?
They all kind of run together in my blurred memories–from Matamoros to Nogales–I made ’em all except Tijuana. Ever make it to the Manhattan Bar in Juarez? Place had a trough with running water in front of your feet at the bar– just whip it out and let ‘er rip–doubled as a foot rest. Had a six-man xylophone
and 25 cent drinks as late as 1972.
Those were indeed the good old days…
This is sick, it makes me sick to hear this about Ft Hood….
Fuck…..
This sort of thing wouldn’t be happening if the base wasn’t named for Confederate General John Bell Hood, and also ORANGE MAN BAD. Anyway, that is what Lars and his proggy pals think.
I hope that this Soldier turns up…alive and safe. Somehow, I don’t think it will end that way. Considering the numbers of people on the Post itself AND the town outside the gate, would this story be as much in the news if it were not from Ft Hood? Are other similarly sized areas in Texas finding people dead or involved in sketchy behavior?
Either way, The General is toast. Ge’s not as much to blame as Trump is, but he more easily fired.
It’s a big installation with a lot of moving parts.
My two cents, as a guy who served in the 80’s until after the turn of the century (I love saying that), part of the problem is that we have a generation of leaders from the battalion through corps level who were brought up in the post-9/11 era and were given a pass on what used to be core leader responsibilities.
They have lots of combat experience, but they lack the skills to run an installation and oversee training, maintenance, and leader development when it isn’t planned for them by Big Army.
In addition, to a certain extent we have relieved leaders of accountability for Soldiers and facilities (to include barracks) when they aren’t on duty.
I was called to the carpet for all kinds of Joe antics as a young LT and CPT, because my leaders all experienced the post-VN era when the SDO/NCO would carry sidearms when checking the barracks at night. We still had to have an MP escort and an NCO with an axe handle come with us when we closed down the service clubs.
Ah, memories. The good old days.
In 1967 when racial animosity was running at fever pitch in the 82d, as the only E-6 living in the barracks, I was called on almost nightly by the charge of quarters to help him put down fights in the platoon bays.
When I tried to report the seriousness of the situation to my bosses at brigade headquarters, where I worked, they didn’t want to hear it. I finally got one young staff captain to listen–whether he took it to his boss I never knew.
The racial situation continued deteriorating to a point where the NCO’s were beginning to take sides, one of the reasons I decided at age 25 to turn down an offered E-7 stripe and OCS from the colonel himself in June ’67 to return to college. Just weeks after I ETS’d, race riots at Bragg were reported in the national news
It most assuredly was not Army leadership’s finest hour.
Within a few years PCSing to Germany entailed a 16 hour HREO class as part of inprocessing.
The “grate” place strikes again!