Story & Photos by Timothy L. Hale
Army Reserve Public Affairs
FORT McPHERSON, Ga. – Early morning gray skies gave way to a sunny fall afternoon, but the mood was still somber as Army Reserve Soldiers and civilian employees paid their final respects to the five Citizen-Soldiers who died in the November 5th shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.
The remembrance ceremony was held at the Army Reserve Command headquarters located in Atlanta on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009.
“Losing fellow Soldiers is among our most difficult challenges,” said Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, commanding general, U.S. Army Reserve Command. “Such an experience takes a toll on the best of us.”
On that fateful day in central Texas, the Army Reserve lost not only Soldiers, but their Families lost husbands, fathers, wives, mothers, sons, daughters and a grandmother.
They collectively represented two specialized combat stress units – the 467th Medical Detachment and the 1908th Medical Company – units whose missions were to help other Soldiers overcome the stressors of combat deployments. Both units were at Fort Hood preparing for deployment when the attack occurred at the Soldiers Readiness Processing Center.
Killed in the incident were: Lt. Col. Juanita Warman, 55, Harve De Grace, Md.; Maj. L. Eduardo Caraveo, 52, Woodbridge, Va.; Capt. John Gaffaney, 54, San Diego, Calif.; Capt. Russell Seager, 51, Racine, Wis. and Staff Sgt. Amy Krueger, 29, Kiel, Wis.
“Although they may not be here with us in a physical sense, they will forever remain in our hearts and minds,” Stultz said.
“We will forever see them in the brightest star at night, in a rainbow on a dismal day, and in a shaft of golden light. We will forever hear them in the wind that whispers through the trees. Death will not contain their eternal essence, nor the grave erase the Warrior-Spirit that each of them daily personified.”
