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News Fort Hood - 2 Soldiers Missing/Found Dead

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RubyBlue

Policy Enforcement
I know the (US) military has never been pristine in their dealings. You can see so many examples of MST and such just around this forum let alone elsewhere. That does not diminish the fact that I have the utmost respect for those who choose to enlist.

But this Fort Hood scandal(?) (too light of a word really) is disturbing and worrisome. I have a nephew that joined and just completed boot camp a few weeks ago. He’s thankfully not stationed at Hood right now. But I’m worried for him regardless. Especially since I know his cocky and sarcastic mouth.

How is everyone coping? Feeling? Dealing with this on top of everything else? For those who have been in, any reassurances? Ugh. I don’t like this.
 
Which scandal?

The two soldiers missing/found dead. There was a man who was set to be discharged within a few days of going missing and his remains were found there in Killeen last week. Recently a woman who had reported sexual harassment at the base has gone missing leaving her car, ID, everything at the base.

***edited to add- Gregory Morales and Vanessa Guillen
 
How is everyone coping? Feeling?
Pretty non-plussed.

Here’s why.

Fort Hood has a total population of over 200,000 (45,000 active duty + dependents/family + civilian personnel.).

And? You’re going to find the same types of crimes on military bases that you find in civilian cities. Because people are people. The vast majority are going to be misdemeanors, followed by non-violent felonies, followed by violent felonies.

Looking at the 2018 Army Crime Report... those numbers (Army Wide) are :
- 67% misdemeanor
- 20% non-violent felonies
- 3 % violent felonies

- 9% dual misdemeanor & non-violent felony
- 3% violent felony + nonviolent // misdemeanor //all 3

Total of
67% misdemeanor - 38,451
33% felony - 18,805
Total - 57,256

Now... 57,000 crimes might sound like a lot? But, again, that’s army wide. So the percentage of soldiers involved in both misdemeanor & felony crimes in 2018?

57,000 (rounded to the nearest thousand) out of
4.1 million active duty & reservists (rounded to the nearest 100k)
= 1.4%

* Are these numbers going to wiggle around a bit if we overlaid crimes with no arrest made, convictions, estimated unreported crimes, etc.? Certainly. Probably not a whole lot since we’re dealing with such large/small numbers (millions and single percents). But this isn’t meant as a comparative thesis. Just the broad strokes.
__________________________________________

Now Let’s look at the civvie numbers courtesy of the FBI 2018 Crime in the USA... which doesn’t even touch traffic offenses, although traffic
Nationwide, law enforcement made an estimated 10,310,960 arrests in 2018. Of these arrests, 521,103 were for violent crimes, and 1,167,296 were for property crimes. (Note: the UCR Program does not collect data on citations for traffic violations.) (See Table 29.)

1.4% of soldiers (57,000 / 4.1 million) were arrested in 2018.
3.1% of civilians (10.3 million / 327.2 million)

3% military violent felonies
4.8% civilian violent crime
So, in the first place it’s not weird to hear of a murder in a city of 200,000. It would honestly be weirder, not to.

In the second place? Bases are infinitely safer / less crime ridden than cities of similar size. Essentially, you’re looking at half as much crime -or less! Remember the FBI isn’t including traffic & the Army is- in most places on base, than off. And civilian violent crime is almost double.

***
So, for me? As someone who grew up on military bases all over the world, and then served on them all over the world? It would be like you hearing that 2 people were murdered in Rochester New York, or San Bernardino California, or Bordeaux France. A tragedy of course, as murders are, but not something unexpected or to be alarmed over... unless you knew the people personally.
 
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I've been struggling with Vanessa's case because of the sexual assault piece that I tend to overly attach myself to unwarranted. I didn't know about Gregory.
 
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