Fort Hood lessons promote better force protection
11/05/2010 Story by Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON - One year after a tragic shooting spree left 13 people dead and 32 more injured at Fort Hood, Texas, the military is working at every level to apply lessons learned to protect the force against an increasingly complex threat, an Army force-protection official told American Forces Press Service.
The Fort Hood incident forced the military to evaluate, "not just the tactical-level response that happened at Fort Hood specifically, but also the processes and systems and policies that were in place for the Department of Defense as a whole that could have led to what happened," said Mary "Chris" Frels, deputy provost marshal for U.S. Army North.
As U.S. Northern Command's Army component, Army North has responsibility for force protection at Fort Hood and all other Army installations in the U.S. homeland.
Frels cited solid department-wide progress in fixing shortcomings identified in several investigations and reviews following the Nov. 5, 2009, incident. These include findings of an independent panel Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates appointed to study the issues and recommendations in their 86-page report issued in January.
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