From: BOBWORN@aol.com
Subject: SNET: Army rain of terror - "Be The Best You Can Be...In The Army"
Date: 9 Feb 2000 18:29:17 -0500
To: BOBWORN@aol.com


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THE "ALL NEW" COMPLETELY VOLUNTEER ARMY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.  I THINK THAT 
WE SHOULD LOWER THE ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS EVEN MORE THAT THEY HAVE BEEN 
LOWERED, DON'T YOU.  AND LET'S INCREASE THE CURRENT "CARROT" FROM $10,000.00 
TO SAY $30,000.000 AS AN INCENTIVE TO JOIN THIS EXCELLENT ARMED FORCE.  IT 
WOULD SAVE A LOT MORE NURSING HOMES BEING BUILT.

Bob Worn, Major-USAF (Retired)
Route 8  Box 422
Gilmer, Texas  75644-8825
903-734-6970

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Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2000 17:02:13 -0700
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Subject: Army rain of terror
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Army rains artillery fire on Texas town
Residents near Fort Hood consider legal action

---------------------------------------------------------------------

By David M. Bresnahan

Residents of the small community of King, Texas, are considering
filing legal actions against the U.S. Army for raining live artillery
shells around their homes for a period about an hour in what the
military described as a "mistake."
"We're used to hearing them practice, but this was, well it was just
unreal," Joan Shoaf told WorldNetDaily by phone about her brush with
death. She said that her entire family was almost blown up in the
attack by the U.S. Army Jan. 26, 2000.

The Army admits they made a mistake, but official spokesmen have tried
to make the incident seem far less serious than the evidence shows,
and they have not issued a public apology for the "human error."

Shoaf, 66, has a heart condition. Her husband Robert, 70, has suffered
two strokes. They said they are counting their blessings to be alive
after their ranch was shelled by heavy artillery from nearby Fort
Hood.

The Shoafs have lived on their ranch for 40 years in the small
community of King, Texas just about eight miles from Fort Hood and not
far from Waco. Their grown children built their homes on the ranch as
well and live there with their own young children. Together they raise
cattle, goats and horses. The Shoafs say it was a miracle that the
entire family, and nearby neighbors, were not all killed by the U.S.
Army.

"I was in the bathtub on the side of the house where it was closest to
it. So you can imagine the fear," described Mrs. Shoaf. When the bombs
started to explode outside her house she said she went to her husband
who told her he saw shrapnel flying everywhere.

"It was terrifying," she said.

Fortunately the bombs were landing in a field about 100 yards from the
house. There were trees between the house and the bombs, which helped,
but did not completely protect the houses on the ranch, according to
Mr. Shoaf.

"I've got this chandelier that has these little glass deals on it. It
went everywhere. The pictures went crooked and fell off the wall. The
whole house seemed like it just shook. It cracked our foundation on
the side where it hit. And there was damage to the roof," said Mrs.
Shoaf.

Later inspection revealed that at least five bombs landed near the
four homes and farm buildings on the Shoaf ranch. The craters made by
the bombs are about six feet deep and six feet wide. The houses have
varying degrees of damage. Because it happened between 9 and 10 p.m.,
there were no people or livestock outside where they could have been
hit by shrapnel from the bombs.

"Preliminary results from the formal investigation concerning the
accidental firing of artillery rounds off the Fort Hood installation
last week revealed human error as the cause," said the Army in an
official statement released six days after the incident.

After initial complaints about the bombing were received at Fort Hood,
a game warden was dispatched to investigate. He was unable to locate
evidence of the bombs that night, and he made no attempt to contact
the people in their homes to ask them what happened.

The Shoafs said they were astonished with the poor efforts by the Army
and police.

Several members of the Shoaf family, as well as other neighbors,
phoned 911 the night of the bombing. The dispatcher was reluctant to
believe their claims of bombs exploding all around them, and the
county sheriff's deputy did not arrive for almost an hour, according
to Mrs. Shoaf.

Although the game warden was sent to look into the complaints, he
never knocked on the door of any of the residents who were frightened
by the bombs.

"The on-going formal investigation is also reviewing the timeliness of
Fort Hood's response to the initial complaints," the Army statement
admitted.

It wasn't until the next day when the residents called and complained
several more times that the Army finally sent their explosive ordnance
disposal team to investigate. They did not arrive until 4 p.m. the
next day, a full 18 hours after the bombing, according to the official
Army statement.

The disposal team confirmed the presence of "shrapnel and crater holes
from impact on the scene." Only then did Fort Hood officials initiate
"a full investigation and ceased all live-fire artillery training
until completion of the investigation."

Preliminary findings point to individual human error in the operation
of the artillery, according to the report. Others told WorldNetDaily
that the fault could not be placed on just one person.
This Army stock photo shows a Paladin, and M109A6, 155mm
self-propelled howitzer just like the ones that nearly killed several
families in King, Texas.


"An improper firing azimuth (specific compass reading) was input into
the computer onboard on Paladin, a M109A6, 155mm self-propelled
howitzer. The improper azimuth changed the howitzer's firing direction
from a southeasterly direction to a northwesterly direction. That
single howitzer, belonging to a field artillery battalion in the 1st
Cavalry Division, fired eleven high explosive rounds and one
illumination round into the off post location. No injuries to
personnel or livestock occurred. There is evidence of some damage to
one of the nearby homes," said the Army statement.

According to the statement, the gun or guns were completely turned
around and were shooting 180 degrees off target. The shells fired by
the Paladin are very powerful explosives.

The Shoafs say the statement minimizes the true situation and does not
acknowledge the full extent of the damage. The statement also does not
apologize for the error and the suffering caused to the Shoafs and
others.

"The formal investigation will soon be completed. The formal
investigation will determine if changes are needed to current
operating procedures, if any training changes need to be implemented,
and if any disciplinary actions are warranted," said the statement.

The Army admits that at least 12 of the fully armed, high-explosive
shells were fired on the Shoaf's ranch, as well as at least three
other ranches two miles away.

"The formal investigation is still underway. No date set when it will
be complete or anything. That will determine a lot of things, such as
are there any changes needed in training? Are there any changes needed
in qualification things?" explained Army public affairs spokesman
Cecil Green.

The incident took place during a routine training exercise. It was not
the first time that the soldiers involved had ever fired the howitzers
being used.

"It was just one person who made a mistake on one of the Howitzers,
okay? It was one individual who entered the wrong data into the
computer on the Howitzer, and that made it select the wrong firing
direction," Green told WorldNetDaily.

He said the Army is still investigating to determine how many
different times wrong numbers were entered into the computer. The
dozen errant rounds were fired sporadically for more than an hour, he
admitted.

"It wasn't like, boom, boom, boom. It was over a period of time. More
like an hour or so," said Green in an admission that the error was not
just one single mistake, but that it was made more than once by the
team firing the explosive shells.

The big gun was pointed in the opposite direction it was supposed to
be, and no one noticed. Even when the Army was contacted by
complaining residents they were reluctant to believe anything was
wrong and sent only a game warden to check the report.

There was more than one person who was at fault, according to a
military expert very familiar with the equipment involved. He asked
not to be identified. He said there should have been an observer who
would report a failure when the designated target was not hit.

"It's awfully hard to fire so many shells for a full hour and not have
someone realize something's wrong. You'd think they would be smart
enough to notice that it was pointed in wrong direction. But that's
today's Army for you. It doesn't take much sense to figure out these
guys had a major problem that night and someone is trying to cover
something up," said the source.

He also said the computer that received the wrong data has a safety
mechanism to reject the incorrect data if it is set up correctly.

"There are many people you could blame for this, but it looks like
they are setting one guy up for the fall," he said, based on the Army
statement released to the press.

Green tried to make the incident sound like a minor mishap, according
to the source.

"Well, this is the first known time it's happened. They said they've
lived there 70 years, you know. Nothing like that has ever happened
before. It's not an every day occurrence. Somebody made a mistake.
We're taking steps to rectify that mistake and make sure it never
happens again, hopefully," said Green.

The Shoafs said they would never feel safe in their homes again
because the same human error could happen anytime.

"We're just so distraught," said Mrs. Shoaf. She said that the
attitude by the Army makes them feel even worse about what happened to
them.

Lawyers from Fort Hood have provided them with claim forms to
complete, but Mr. Shoaf said that just "wasn't going to do it." Mrs.
Shoaf said they are talking about getting a lawyer to evaluate taking
action against the Army.

"We could have all been killed. That's the way we feel. It was very,
very frightening. I don't think we'll ever get over it. All my
daughter-in-laws and sons -- every time we hear a noise we all jump,"
said Mrs. Shoaf.

The Shoafs are also talking about leaving their ranch, but "it's kind
of hard to do after 40 years," said Mrs. Shoaf.

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