From staff, AP reports
news@joplinglobe.com
Spc. Logan Burnett, a former Joplin area resident, remains hospitalized in Texas in the wake of the Nov. 5 shooting at the Fort Hood Army base where he is stationed.
Bryant Burnett, of rural Galena, Kan., told the Globe in a phone interview Tuesday that his son is “recovering well.” He declined a more in-depth interview about his son’s condition or his account of the shooting that left 13 dead and 30 injured.
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, faces 13 counts of premeditated murder in the Fort Hood massacre. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the Army is not only preparing for its own examination of what went wrong in the Hasan case, but also is looking at personnel policies and the availability of mental health services for troubled troops.
Bryant Burnett corrected a story the Globe carried on Nov. 13 from the Killeen (Texas) Daily Herald that stated that Logan Burnett is a Joplin native. His father said his son is a Leavenworth, Kan., native. Bryant Burnett said he and his wife moved to the Joplin area about three years ago, and that his son had only recently moved to the area.
Logan Burnett, 24, is assigned to the 1908th Medical Company. His company was mobilized at Fort Hood. He arrived in central Texas less than a month ago and was going through a series of checks that are routine for any unit preparing to deploy.
Burnett has been credited by other news sources with throwing a table at the shooter. Burnett reportedly was hit by a bullet that entered his left hip, abdomen, and upper and lower intestines. He also was shot in his right hip.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he wants a unified probe that goes beyond the Army, but he has not decided how far-reaching the inquiry would be or who would lead it, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
The Army’s No. 2 officer bluntly said Tuesday that officials fear more people with issues such as those held by Hasan may be undetected inside the armed forces.
“I think we always have to be concerned about that,” Army Vice Chief of Staff Peter Chiarelli said as he outlined separate efforts to curb rising suicide rates in the Army. The service has been the combat force most affected by the stress of fighting two wars.
Hasan apparently slipped through cracks in the Army’s personnel and mental health systems, keeping his job and preparing for overseas deployment to Afghanistan even though aspects of his behavior and statements had alarmed co-workers and others.
Two military officials said Tuesday that an investigative panel is likely to be formed that would look at Hasan as a whole, his career development, and at what point someone should have or might have raised an alarm, one of the officials said.
The proposed Army probe would focus on Hasan’s six years at Washington’s Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he worked as a psychiatrist before he was transferred to Fort Hood in July, one said.
FBI information
The FBI learned late last year of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s repeated contact with a radical Muslim cleric in Yemen who encouraged Muslims to kill U.S. troops in Iraq. President Barack Obama already has ordered a review of all intelligence related to Hasan, and whether the information was properly shared and acted upon within government agencies.
