Commentary: Heroes of Fort Hood deserve honor for response to massacre
As you may have heard, there was a shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, last week. Thirteen people were killed; another forty-two were wounded. On Tuesday, Nov. 10th, a memorial was held for all the soldiers who lost their lives, and prayers were lifted for all who were wounded and recovering.
Three people stand out among the rest from this shooting. The suspected gunman is one. Major Nidal Malik Hasan was 39 years old and an Army psychiatrist. He was spending time at the Army bases intensive care unit. No one has any explanation for why he went on a rampage and killed so many people; we can only speculate.
Another individual who stands out for different reaons, Private Joseph Foster, was in the room where the shootings started. He claims to have heard someone shout “Allah Akbar” quickly followed by gunfire. He was wounded in the hip, but still managed to run around the room helping people, getting them to cover, then leaving and helping others outside of his immediate area. He says he was “just doing what he was trained to do.”
Another great help was police officer Kimberly Munley, who ended the shooting by shooting and killing the suspected gunman after being wounded herself. People in her area say she is an aggressive police officer who never thinks twice about doing what is right. Many neighbors commented that they felt safer with her living on their street.
In my opinion, these people deserve high honors for what they did. Private Foster was wounded, but still found a way to assist his fellow soldiers. He thought nothing of himself and focused solely on getting people to cover to avoid excessive injury or fatality. Officer Munley was also wounded, and stopped many more from being wounded or killed by taking down the gunman. She exemplifies what great police officers should be, and how they should react in such situations.
Many people nowadays seem to think twice about things like this. So many people are sueing officers for helping them out, or officers are being stripped of their badges because they didn’t do what was politically correct. These two people show what should be done, no two ways about it. People should always try to help each other and protect one another. If Officer Munley hadn’t shot that man, many more residents of the area could have died. If Private Foster hadn’t helped his fellow soldiers out, more of them would be dead as well, whether from getting shot or from bleeding to death.
People need to watch out for one another. These two deserve to be honored for their selflessness and good decisions. I hope their work is acknowledged and appreciated by everyone.