The tragic Fort Hood shooting has hit close to home for the families and soldiers at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. The military base of the 82nd Airborne Division is a long way from Texas, but the Fort Bragg soldiers and families know what those at Fort Hood are going through.
The Fort Hood shootings brought back memories of a shooting that occurred at Fort Bragg just 14 years ago. Early in the morning of October 27, 1995, Sgt. William J. Kreutzer Jr. of the 82nd Airborne Division's 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment began shooting his fellow soldiers.
Around 1,300 soldiers were in the Towle Stadium preparing to go on a four mile run around 6:30 am. Kreutzer began firing on the unarmed soldiers.
Before Kreutzer could be disarmed by other soldiers, he had killed Maj. Stephen Badger, also of the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment. Kreutzer had also wounded 18 other soldiers.
Kreutzer was an infantry squad leader for the Second Brigade at the time of the shooting. He was originally given a death sentence in 1996.
In 2004, Kreutzer's death sentence was set aside. An Army Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the most serious charges due to inadequate representation by Kreutzer's Army-appointed attorneys in 2005.
Kreutzer filed an appeal in 2007 and was granted a new trail. At a pre-trial hearing in March 2009 Kreutzer pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty. Kreutzer is now serving a life sentence for the Fort Bragg shooting.
Possibly the worst thing a soldier can face is another soldier turning against his fellow soldiers. The Fort Bragg shooting fourteen years ago and the Fort Hood shooting just this week shows just how tragic it can be.
Written by Denise Clay
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