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Alleged Fort Hood Shooter Nidal Hasan Still Paid Military Salary
It’s been three and 1/2 years since Major Nidal Hasan allegedly opened fire in the Army Deployment Center at Fort Hood, killing 13 people and injuring 32. The Department of Defense has confirmed that the alleged Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan is still collecting his military pay, which now totals almost $300, 000.
NBC 5 Investigates reported, “The Army said under the Military Code of Justice, Hasan’s salary cannot be suspended unless he is proven guilty.”
Members of the Fort Hood Special Reaction Team (SRT) (SWAT) approach a building with a gunman inside at Fort Hood, Texas, Nov. 5, 2009.
Photo: SGT Jason Krwczyk, USA
Victims Have No Resources
While the alleged Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan continues to collect his military pay and family benefits, the soldiers that were injured in the brutal attack are fighting to receive medical pay and benefits the military awards to those injured in combat.
Retired Army Spc. Logan Burnett, a reservist who, in 2009, was soon to be deployed to Iraq, was shot three times when the gunman opened fire inside the Army Deployment Center. He told NBC 5 Investigations, “I honestly thought I was going to die in that building,” said Burnett. “Just blood everywhere and then the thought of — that’s my blood everywhere.”
The Army has not classified the wounds of the Ft. Hood victims as “combat related” and declines to label the shooting a “terrorist attack”,
The “combat related” designation is an important one, for without it Burnett and other shooting victims are not given combat-related pay, they are not eligible for Purple Heart retirement or medical benefits given to other soldiers wounded either at war or during the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon.
As a result, Burnett, his wife Torey, and the families of other Fort Hood victims miss out on thousands of dollars of potential benefits and pay every year.
“You take three rounds and lose five good friends and watch seven other people get killed in front of you. Do you have another term that we can classify that as?” asked Burnett.
As that fight continues, Burnett was stunned to see a letter detailing the more $278,000 Hasan has been paid since his arrest. NBC 5 Investigates received the letter from the Department of Defense in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
“There have been times when my wife and I cannot afford groceries. We cannot afford gas in our car,” Burnett said. “Literally, times where we ate Ramen noodles for weeks on end. This [that Hasan is still earning a paycheck] makes me sick to my stomach,” said Burnett.
Family members and troops attend the Nov. 10, 2009, memorial service honoring the victims of the Nov. 5 shooting spree that left 13 dead and 38 wounded.
Photo: US Army
Apparently, the Army does have another term to classify the situation: workplace violence. And the outrage isn’t limited to the victims of the shooting.
Who’s Wearing The Pants In This Outfit?
“We’re giving the defendant in this case every benefit of the doubt. But yet we’re not giving the benefits to the victims,” said Rep. Thomas Rooney (R) Florida.
Rooney, a former prosecutor at Fort Hood, recently signed a bi-partisan letter urging defense secretary Chuck Hagel to “…reclassify the victims’ deaths and injuries as ‘combat related’…” The letter said the current situation has “…resulted in an embarrassing lack of care and treatment for the victims and their families.”
“What happened here is not a case of workplace violence. What happened here was an attack on our military by a terrorist element specifically targeting our military, which just so happened to be in the United States of America,” said Rooney.
According to NBC 5 Investigates, “Reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation showed alleged Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan was communicating with a member of Al Qaida prior to the shooting. Additionally, the government’s National Counterterrorism Center lists the shooting at Fort Hood as a ‘high fatality terrorist attack.’”
Meanwhile, the Army and Hasan’s attorney remain mum out of “commitment to the integrity of the ongoing court martial proceedings against Major Nidal Hasan.”
Alleged Fort Hood Shooter Nidal Hasan Still Paid Military Salary.
