LEADERSHIP

Leadership

Leadership

Introduction

U.S. Army has established a largest active-duty armored post in Fort Hood. It was a major hub for troops deploying to or returning from military service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fort Hood was 100 miles (160 km) south of Dallas-Fort Worth, and near the town of Killeen. Its denizens deal with violence on their overseas missions. They don't ordinarily expect to encounter carnage in their home base, which lies in the pleasant hill-and-lake country of central Texas. Carnage is just what transpired on Nov. 5, 2009.

Fort Hood shooting was believed to be one of the worst mass shootings ever on a military base in the U.S.; a gunman killed 13 people and wounded some three dozen others (Bergen, 2011). The shooter was a 39-year-old military psychiatrist and was taken into custody after being wounded by base police. Officials identified him as Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a devout adherent of Islam. The incident triggered sharp debate on whether the shooter was a deranged individual, a terrorist, or perhaps both and whether authorities had paid sufficient attention to warning signs in his behavior that might have enabled them to prevent the tragedy (McCullough, 2011). This paper explores the leadership attributes displayed by the officials after the massacre happening.

Part 1

Introduction to Crisis Situation

On November 5, 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas, U.S. Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on members of the military, killing 13 before he was shot and arrested (CNN, 2009). The fort hood shooting event started at about 1:30 in the afternoon at the base's Soldier Readiness Processing Center (CNN, 2009). The gunman, who was wearing an Army uniform, shouted "Allahu Akbar!" (An Arabic term that means “God is great") before opening fire. He had two pistols, one of them a semiautomatic; both were nonmilitary issue. The rampage lasted about ten minutes, ending when the gunman was shot four times by police. Hasan, according to his lawyer, was left paralyzed below his arms. Inasmuch as the crime took place on an Army base, and 12 of the 13 killed were soldiers, Hasan was faced with a military trial. He was charged with 13 counts of murder (Facts on File, 2010a). As the judicial process moved forward, additional charges might be brought--taking account, for instance, of the fact that one of the soldiers killed was pregnant.

Armed police responded as the shooting continued, and a civilian police officer, Kimberly Munley, shot Hasan four times; Munley was also wounded in the exchange. Hasan was hospitalized off the base, and placed under guard. Hasan reportedly used two pistols, including one semiautomatic pistol. Military personnel on the base were authorized to keep registered personal weapons, although it was not known if Hasan's pistols were registered (Gates, 2011). Service members on the base generally went unarmed.

Hasan was born in Arlington, Virginia, and was single. He belonged to Palestinian immigrant family. Coworkers and family members said he thought the U.S. should not be fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and had unsuccessfully sought a military discharge for several years after being harassed for his ethnicity and Muslim faith (Lieberman, ...