We lived off post to the East.You said you were stationed on FT. Hood years back. Is most of the land just used for training? No buildings used or occupied permanently? Virtually wasteland?
I looked at the map (the satellite photo) before I asked you the question. It was just hard to figure out what some of those brown and gray spots were, but most of it looked barren. I also went online and searched for as many bases as I could to find out sizes of the installations. Thank you for your answer.We lived off post to the East.
South Fort is where most of the populated areas are and where VG disappeared from. North Fort is wilderness and training grounds. There are vacant buildings on most posts, some just used as storage etc. The army has a lot of 'stuff'. The Army leases land to ranchers and they graze their cattle up there. Besides cattle, you have Tanks, Artillery, Coyotes, wild pigs, snakes etc. That being said it could have changed since I was on post. Moo
What if Vanessa isn't the one that sent that text, or someone else was there and Vanessa sent something to alert her sister because it was 'out of the norm'? People are calling 911 to order pizza when someone in the home is a danger to someone else, like domestic violence. We have a code word in our family. Just use it in a sentence and the person on the other end knows something is wrong.Just an observation. Morning PT is pretty standard across the whole army. MOO it is very likely that VG did PT that morning.
I looked around at work schedules in the army and found a 9am start is more common than I thought though.
Also, who sends a message that says basically "I am going to work at the same time I always do." ?
No wonder the text made her sister question why she got it.
Army unveils new, six-event physical fitness test to help ready troops for combat
I think someone else already posted something from this article earlier, but I have no idea who these people are. They say they are not affiliated with the DoD or any branch of the Armed Services.
Army Soldiers at Fort Hood in Texas Are Dying at Alarming Rates Stateside (January 1, 2016 to Present)
In the last 3 years from January 2016 to January 2019, Fort Hood on average lost 35 soldiers a year. If you divide 35 by 12 months, that’s an average of 3 soldiers a month. We must find out why so we can prevent these untimely deaths and save the precious lives and futures of these mostly young soldiers. The average age at time of death is 28 years old and each death has a ripple effect on the families, friends, and communities left behind.
This article has some great information. Apparently in the last four years, there has been a marked increase in the amount of stateside deaths of Ft. Hood soldiers. I don't know if there has been an increase in personnel, because there have been a lot of base closures.
I don't know if any of this information is helpful in locating Vanessa Guillen. However, there is a lot of information floating around online that could be relevant to her case but you have to search for it. It's not easy to find.
Ft Hood may be the largest base as far as units, or equipment, or whatever, but area wise it's 12th.
Houston family waiting and hoping as search continues for missing Ft. Hood soldier
The Army Criminal Investigation Command says it is running extensive searches from the air and on the ground with the assistance of the FBI. Texas Equusearch has also joined in, combing areas near Fort Hood, including trails leading up to the post.
“She’s always been such a happy person. Nothing is normal at this point-it’s not the same,” says Mayra of her sister’s disappearance.
I absolutely don’t think the cases are related in any way, and don’t necessarily believe the reward in that one is indicative of any foul play.I also found this snippet from the above linked article missing:
The case has raised questions about another Fort Hood soldier who went missing in August and was labeled a deserter. Fort Hood officials confirm that a $15,000 reward is now being offered in the search for Gregory Wedel Morales.The CID has also offered the same reward for information leading to Vanessa's location.
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So, they've offered the same reward $$$ for info on that other missing case.
Is that because they don't believe the other missing soldier is a deserter, after all?
Is the fact that they're now offering a reward for info r/t his disappearance as VG's an indication that CID believes the 2 cases may be connected?
BBM:I absolutely don’t think the cases are related in any way, and don’t necessarily believe the reward in that one is indicative of any foul play.
I continue to believe that whatever happened to Vanessa was not random, and she knew who is responsible for this (if it is foul play).
I don’t think so, but they may have bowed to pressure from the family. They probably don’t have a clear indication either way, and are atleast open to the possibility that foul play occurred.BBM:
Does the military normally offer reward money for info r/t deserters?
Is anyone aware of Pvt. Dakota Stump, who went missing November 3, 2016?
They listed him as AWOL, but he was dead on post from a car accident. They said his cellphone pinged on a tower in Indiana. (While he was dead on Ft. Hood.)
'A spokesman for Fort Hood said that the soldier’s unit had conducted an exhaustive search.'
This is from the Army Times:
The Army marked this soldier as a deserter. But he had actually died in a car crash on post.
I don't know if I know how to link the article or is it allowed?
I was trying to get info on the soldiers listed as AWOL now.
The relevancy to this case is the phone pinging elsewhere and the 'exhaustive search'. There was actually some interesting and relevant comments there.
Is anyone aware of Pvt. Dakota Stump, who went missing November 3, 2016?
They listed him as AWOL, but he was dead on post from a car accident. They said his cellphone pinged on a tower in Indiana. (While he was dead on Ft. Hood.)
'A spokesman for Fort Hood said that the soldier’s unit had conducted an exhaustive search.'
This is from the Army Times:
The Army marked this soldier as a deserter. But he had actually died in a car crash on post.
I don't know if I know how to link the article or is it allowed?
I was trying to get info on the soldiers listed as AWOL now.
The relevancy to this case is the phone pinging elsewhere and the 'exhaustive search'. There was actually some interesting and relevant comments there.
I think someone else already posted something from this article earlier, but I have no idea who these people are. They say they are not affiliated with the DoD or any branch of the Armed Services. This article singled out Ft. Hood for the 'alarming death rates'. There should be a reason for this.
Army Soldiers at Fort Hood in Texas Are Dying at Alarming Rates Stateside (January 1, 2016 to Present)
In the last 3 years from January 2016 to January 2019, Fort Hood on average lost 35 soldiers a year. If you divide 35 by 12 months, that’s an average of 3 soldiers a month. We must find out why so we can prevent these untimely deaths and save the precious lives and futures of these mostly young soldiers. The average age at time of death is 28 years old and each death has a ripple effect on the families, friends, and communities left behind.
This article has some great information. Apparently in the last four years, there has been a marked increase in the amount of stateside deaths of Ft. Hood soldiers. I don't know if there has been an increase in personnel, because there have been a lot of base closures.
I don't know if any of this information is helpful in locating Vanessa Guillen. However, there is a lot of information floating around online that could be relevant to her case but you have to search for it. It's not easy to find.
Ft Hood may be the largest base as far as units, or equipment, or whatever, but area wise it's 12th.
BBM:Fort hood in general, has always been known to be a “bad” base that no one wants to go to. The ptsd rate there is sky high, because it’s a base hot for deployments. Most soldiers are infantry, MP, combat related jobs. They deploy like crazy there. So it would make sense that more unfortunate suicides and missing cases happen.
It’s just mind boggling how these stories get swept under the rug. It’s truly saddening to see this. I’m praying her story doesn’t disappear.
Beltonian, thank you all for your service. I have been reading up on mountain lions in Texas. I am astounded at the number of sightings, the number that are shot by ranchers and pictured by witnesses. It seems they have made an eastward migration. Two counties north of Fort Hood, a young man hit a 200 lb. cougar with his car and killed it in January. A cougar has a 400 square mile roaming area. Now, I am very worried about Vanessa if she was running alone and you have told me about numerous hiking trails with little human activity. Especially, if she loved to run, she could probably go very far distances being in great shape.Still plenty of turkeys, pigs, armadillos. And Texas Longhorns are everywhere with their babies of all ages , so everyone is stopping and patiently waiting for them to cross a road.
My husband saw a mountain lions quite a few times![]()