A third soldier stationed at Fort Hood has been found dead in the past month. The families
of the deceased are looking for answers at the troubled Texas military base. Brigida
Santos is here to talk about this. Brigida, we've been through this story, seemed like
we covered a similar story about a year ago. Which soldiers have been found dead over the
past month and what do you, what do you know about these cases and how do they tie together
in your estimation? Well, over the past 30 days, the bodies of
three soldiers from Fort Hood have been found and another turned a gun on himself in an
apparent suicide. The most recent death is that of 26 year old private Mejhor Morta whose
body was found 16 miles from the base near still house hollow lake. A preliminary autopsy
lists drowning as the cause of death. But a full autopsy is pending and an investigation
into his death is ongoing. Now this comes several weeks after the body of 20 year old
army specialist, Vanessa Guillen, was found in a shallow grave. She was reportedly bludgeoned
to death on the base by another enlisted soldier named Aaron David Robinson. Now his girlfriend
has confessed to helping him dismember and dispose of Guillen's body. Robinson then fatally
shot himself when the authorities tried to arrest him. And at the end of June, the remains
of private second class Gregory Scott Morales were discovered in a field, foul play is suspected
there, and that investigation is also ongoing, Mike.
You know, Fort Hood, and as we, you and I have talked about in the past, has a history
of violence and misconduct that goes, goes way back. And I, it seems to me, it kind of
lands on the whole dysfunction of management of that organization, not just Fort Hood,
but some of these other military bases too. What's your take?
Absolutely. Now Fort Hood has been the scene of violence and misconduct for decades. Over
the years, reporters have documented violent crimes at the base, including aggravated assault,
robbery, kidnapping, homicide, rape, attempted rapes, and even child pornography. There have
also been at least two mass shootings. And in 2015, a Sergeant in the US army who served
as his battalions main point person for helping to prevent sexual assaults, pleaded guilty
to running a prostitution ring out of Fort Hood and pimping out female subordinates to
higher ranking officers at sex parties. You know, this story we, is something similar,
as you mentioned, to one we covered in the Navy a couple of years ago.
Well, I mean, aren't there organizations that come into dysfunctional organizations? I mean,
they're, this is what they do. They're companies that come in, they look at leadership, they
look at policy, they actually even go, go about doing testing on the people that are
supposed to be in charge to find out whether there's some flaws. There, there are companies
that do that. And it seems like, it seems like Fort Hood is long overdue for somebody
like that coming and saying, you know, this is a disaster. It's, it's, it's, it's not
something you're going to correct with the leadership you have. What's your take?
Yeah, and even. Sexual assault, for example, I mean, it's
a major problem in the military. It's a huge problem. And in fact, a grassroots
group of female troops and veterans have petitioned Congress to shut down Fort Hood and fire it's
chain of command because they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing. They're
not asking for this only because of how they handled the case of Vanessa Guillen, but also
due to the militaries culture of sexual assault and sexual harassment. The petition has already
received nearly 1 million signatures and the current and former female service members
are seeking justice for Guillen and up for all the military women before her who have
been murdered and raped with impunity. They've actually scheduled a March for this Thursday,
July 30th in Washington, DC to honor Vanessa Guillen, and raise awareness about what they
refer to as the military’s me-too moment. Well, the good news is, as I say, there are
people that go into corporations and fix these problems. They could do that here too. I don't
know why somebody won't just go ahead and pull the trigger and get that done, but thanks
for joining Brigida. Okay. Thanks, Mike.