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COUNCIL BLUFFS — Graced by blue sky and warm weather, the Veterans Day parade here Saturday was also colored by an Army base tragedy that occurred two days before.
Spectators and participants in the small parade struggled to understand the Fort Hood, Texas, shootings evidently perpetrated by an Army major who was to be deployed to Afghanistan. Befuddlement and shock at Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's alleged actions were far more prevalent than rage among those at the parade.
Five Council Bluffs-based National Guardsmen, who may be deployed to Afghanistan next year, participated, one tossing Jolly Rancher candies to children.
“I know it can be a stressful situation after going through it once myself,” said Spc. Kevin Sorensen, who was in Afghanistan in 2004-05. “It's heartbreaking to see a fellow soldier take out his fear … on another group of soldiers. It's saddening.”
Thirteen people were killed and about 30 injured. Hasan was in stable condition with gunshot wounds.
“My prayers go out to all the family and everything,” said Spc. Adam Opal, who rode the parade route with Sorensen in a large Army recovery vehicle, used to retrieve vehicles and equipment.
Opal also served in Afghanistan. Both he and Sorensen said they expect to be deployed again next summer, very possibly to Afghanistan.
Opal said he didn't have children the first time, five years ago. Now he has two, with a third due in December. That will make him more cautious, he said.
John Petersen, 72, stood and clapped when he saw the National Guardsmen. Later, he sat on a bench with his neighbor Bonnie Worley, who wore a “Veterans, Thanks!” cap. They live in Bluffs Towers, along the parade route.
Petersen had two American flags attached to his walker and pointed to his apartment window, which had a flag behind it. He never served in the military, he said, but he had four brothers and two sons who did.
“People don't appreciate it — what they've got,” he said of Americans. “That's what gets me.”
As for the alleged shooter, Petersen said he believed authorities had ample evidence beforehand to suspect Hasan was unstable. “They should have seen that happening with that guy,” he said.
Worley, 70, cited a list of family and relatives who served in the military. “I'm the mother of two veterans and the mother-in-law of a veteran,” she said. “And my husband was in the Air Force for 26 years.”
She said she always felt safe living on Air Force bases. This tragedy would change that, she said.
After the parade, various Council Bluffs veterans groups and women's auxiliaries held a lunch and party at the Eagles Club on Avenue F.
They stopped at 1 p.m. for a moment of silence for the Fort Hood victims and their families. One of the organizers of the event, Cheryl Winchester of Council Bluffs, said in an interview that she would have expected a major in the Army who also served as a military psychiatrist to feel less overwhelmed at the prospect of deployment.
She mentioned another hard reality that follows such an episode. “I hate to say it,” she said, “but you don't know who to trust.”
Contact the writer:
444-1123, rick.ruggles@owh.com
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