I am soooo done living on post!!

[Shanna]

My husband deploys for his 4th time in March 2010 and I will be moving back home to Central Texas while his is there. After the events of yesterday I made a command decision that we won't be living on post any longer after my husband returns. I just don't feel safe on base anymore. The shootings at Fort Hood have shaken me and lots of my other friends. If we can't feel safe on post, can we feel safe anywhere?? I have talked to lots of friends who live on Fort Hood and they are preparing to move off post now, they don't ever want to have to go through anything like this again.

[Casey Arrington]

On Fort Bragg I often read the Paraglide, the post paper, and read the crime reports. They compare Bragg to off post crimes, and they're often times more crap going on on then off, especially break ins & stuff which is crazy. My dad is a police detective that teaches MP's and sometimes works with CID. He went to a school in VA Beach and he was telling me about how there were some CID guys there talking about the shit that goes on on post that you don't hear about because the Army covers it up. They were telling him the Army has gotten very good at keeping stuff from the media. He told me a few of the things that happened on Bragg and I could not believe it.

This is just another reason I have always and will always live off post. You aren't safe anywhere, and you definetely aren't guaranteed any safer on a military installation. Especially with stuff like this, acts of terrorism as I see it. I don't blame you at all Shanna.

[Shanna]

Thanks so much Casey. Being a mother, I just want my son to be in a place where he is safe, if that exists. My husband and I always find a place out away from post when we are not on post. We live the country feel and all the posts where my husband can go have some amazing rural places around them. When we lived at Hood, before moving on post, we lived out in the country and I loved it. My husband moved us on post because he was leaving for Korea and wanted to make sure we were safe..hmmm, that seems like a contradiction in terms now. I have heard of some horrific things that happen on post and I will take my chances out in the "real" world...lol

[Marie.]

I live near a bad neighborhood and so I was relieved when my fiance joined the military cause it meant I could live in a safe gated community on base. And then this happens. If you're not safe on base, then where CAN you be safe?!

[Casey Arrington]

There is no such thing as safe.

[Shanna]

It doesn't really matter where you live, CRIME is everywhere! It sucks but unless you live on a 10,000 acre ranch out in the middle of the mountains, you are probably going to be around crime. We just have to do the best find the best possible places to raise our families and live.

[AmericanAngel]

My belief are that God will never gives more than we can handle and that when its our time to go it our time to go. I can't imagine in a million years what it was like to go through what they went through on that base that daya nd I can see why they would feel unsafe and and want to move. However for the rest of us. Crime is all over and people slip through the cracks and things happen. Look at Columbine, or 9/11 or even the London Bombings. Loads of people were affected by these things however we all banded together and picked up the pieces. We took the power back from the people that made these events happen. x x

[Amy Elizabeth]

Maybe it's because I haven't been a military spouse that long or because I havent lived on base that long or because my husband is a Marine and not as directly affected by the shootings at Ft Hood but I feel really safe living here on base. There is some crime on base, but I havent heard of anything major. I don't think that base/post shootings are going to become the norm. You know, maybe I'm jaded though. I came here from a big city where you were constantly looking over your shoulder..Compared to real life in the big city (Chicago) i definitely feel safer on base.

[Christa]

I agree Amy, I live on Fort Hood and although what happened is horrible I don't think it's going to be a norm. and I still feel very safe here... the MPs are constantly (now and have always) patrolling our neighborhood (they drive by more than hourly which is a lot more than any where I've ever lived). I don't think the security is really to blame because the guy only had hand guns even if they had searched his car or whatever when he came on base it's not likely they would've found them. This could have happened any where (on post or off)... the area right around fort hood is so crime ridden you'd have to live in the country to feel safe at all.

[Stefanie]

I have always felt safer on base, as well. Yes, bad things happen, but it's not the norm. This is our first time not living on base (the housing was substandard), and actually owning a home, but now that my husband is deployed, I kinda wish we were on base. Mainly for the safety issue. I live in a really safe neighborhood, and I have some really great friends as neighbors, but I think I would feel a bit more secure at night knowing that we were on base.

[Valerie]

yea..i feel safe on base. it's just different everywhere..but i rather be on base than off.

[LeZandra]

I agree with you. I have always felt safe on base, and I have lived on base my entire life.

[Silver Xeno]

I think there have been more shootings into the general public at locations outside of military installations than INSIDE military installations. I'm no figure checker...but I can count 2 incidents right off hand (including the Hood incident) where people were killed at random on a military installation. For non-military incidents, just thinking back to the last 10 years or so...I have about 10 incidents in my head...starting with Columbine.