Ft. Hood

Yesterday, there was a tragedy at Ft. Hood. A Major killed 12 people and wounded at least 31. Insane.

I happen to work for a Defense Contractor in Austin. Yesterday, we sent 13 employees to Ft. Hood for training...can you believe it? We do this once a year and the date happened to be yesterday, the day of Tragedy. I was tasked with calling the Emergency contact for all 13 employees. I didn't think I would have a hard time with the task because I took a crisis counseling course in college. I was wrong. 100% wrong. I was shaking for about an hour after making the phone calls. Each contact had a different response with 2 being hysterical on the phone. You see, our employees were unable to contact their loved ones. Their cell phones weren't allowed to be taken into the facility, so their loved ones were out of the loop (besides what was seen on the tube). It was an eye opener for me! My first thoughts when I completed the task were the people involved in the 9\11 Tragedy. Those people probably received phone calls of death or perhaps, they didn't receive phone calls at all. They just had to wait and wait and wait. Today, I am thankful for my courage in being able to make the phone calls...even if they were positive phone calls.

Peace be with those who lost loved ones!