Hasan: No Formal Effort to Leave Military

Washington Post: Army Official Says Accused Fort Hood Shooter Never Formally Sought Discharge, Contradicting Relative

(Washington Post)  This story was written by Ann Scott Tyson.

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The Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people last week at Fort Hood, Tex., did not formally seek to leave the military as a conscientious objector or for any other reason, an Army official said, despite claims by one of his relatives that he had done so.

It is unclear whether Maj. Nidal M. Hasan made informal efforts to leave through contacts with his immediate superiors, and if so how his chain of command at lower levels might have responded to such efforts.

But any formal request by Hasan to separate early would have been submitted to the Department of the Army, according to the official, who saw Hasan's file before it was recently sealed by Army investigators. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

Full Coverage: Tragedy at Fort Hood

In 2007, addressing other physicians at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Hasan said that to avoid "adverse events" the military should allow Muslim soldiers to be released as conscientious objectors instead of fighting in wars against other Muslims. At the time of the shooting, Hasan was about to be deployed to Afghanistan, officials have said.

Even if Hasan had sought to quit the Army over his opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as his aunt has said he did, the Army almost certainly would have denied any such request, senior Army officials said. Hasan had a continuing obligation because the Army had provided him with medical training.

In a further indication Hasan was not actively seeking formal discharge, he underwent an Army promotion board in the spring of 2008 that called his performance as an officer as patriotic and elevated him from the rank of captain to major, a promotion that took place in May 2009, according to the official.

The Army faces a severe shortage of officers who hold the rank of major, as Hasan does, and that shortage is particularly acute in some medical branches. The Army this year is short about 2,000 majors needed to fill slots created as the service has grown in recent years, according to Army data. In the field of medical doctors, the Army lacks about 15 percent of the majors it needs, the data show.

To address the shortfall, virtually all Army captains are being promoted to major. The Army's promotion rate from captain to major has been well over 90 percent since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, leading some officers to describe the trend as the "no major left behind" program.

Hasan joined the Army in 1997, attended Army medical training and then worked as a psychiatry intern and resident at Walter Reed from 2003 until July of this year, when he was transferred to the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood. Hasan's last official performance evaluation took place in June of this year, according to an Army summary of his career known as an "officer record brief."

Maj. Gen. Gina Farrisee, the Army's personnel chief, said in an interview Monday that due to the ongoing investigation, she and other Army officials cannot discuss Hasan's specific situation. However, Farrisee said it would take an extraordinary situation -- such as debilitating illness or the death of a spouse -- for an officer with Hasan's rank and medical training to be allowed to resign before completing his or her service obligation.

It would be "very very unusual" said Paul Aswell, an Army personnel official. "I can't think of any in recent years," he said.

Even after officers complete their service obligations, it is extremely rare for them to be allowed to leave immediately prior to deployments, Farrisee said.

The Army has received about 50 conscientious objector applications each year since 2001 from soldiers seeking either not to bear arms or to leave the service entirely because of religious or deeply held moral or ethical beliefs. Of those applications, a little more than half have been approved.

In the past three years, the Army board that decides whether to approve or disapprove such applications has not received any from Army officers with a remaining service obligation, according to the Army official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

[JustanAmerican1]

No one should be surprised by the actions of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. This is all I could write within the guidelines or rules of engagement.

[50BMS13]

Of course he didn't ask to leave the military. He was an Al-Quaeda mole. He had Jihad to perform. Remember his bumper sticker folks..."ALLAH IS LOVE". He wore traditional garb to the base. His loyalty was to Allah before the US. This war we are in is ALLAH versus UNITED STATES of AMERICA. Unfortunatly our Commander in Chief also love Allah. He has gone to Egypt to apologize to all muslims that the US has transgressed Islam and that the US is a nation of muslims. He has based his presidency on muslim issues. His hands are tied. He threw the dice and rolled snake eyes folks. Now being politically correct and muslim loving (while muslims are terrorizing America) has put Obama in a corner. He has to send in 100,000 troops to Afghanistan. He can't even scknowledge that FT.Hood was a terrorist act. Obama is letting Iran and North Korea go Nuclear while being distracted by "looking presidential and being politically correct".
***POP QUIZ***
what do you get when you add these together?
Nuclear Iran + Nuclear North Korea + Pro-muslim US Gov't?
>>>>Answer>>>> Mushroom cloud over Times Square New York

[91786]

He didn't do this because he was upset with the Army. He did it because he hates Americans. He stated he is a Palestianian when he wasn't., He communicated with Bin Laden's group repeatedly and with a terrorist organizer. He went to sservices with 2 members of the 911 terrorist team. He was a sleeper agent. Wake up and smell the coffee. He wasn't cuaght because it is not PC to point a finger at a Muslim in the USA

[RL_Cudd]

This keep in even the ones we know are no good, because we need bodies, isn't just isolated to the medical field. How many incompetent officers and noncommissioned officers are in the field, drastically affecting the outcome of military missions. We are to quick to keep poor quality soldiers in the miiitary in times of war - and maybe that explains the reasons why we are in another quagmire - Korea, Vietnam, and now Iraq/Afghanistan. Super Power??? We are a joke. We were rumored to be able to fight two wars, on two fronts, simultaneously - the Russians are probably cussing in their version of VFWs about not attacking us during the Cold War.

[91786]

He didn't do this because he was upset with the Army. He did it because he hates Americans. He stated he is a Palestianian when he wasn't., He communicated with Bin Laden's group repeatedly and with a terrorist organizer. He went to sservices with 2 members of the 911 terrorist team. He was a sleeper agent. Wake up and smell the coffee. He wasn't cuaght because it is not PC to point a finger at a Muslim in the USA

[pensacola8-2009]

Poor Mental Health is a good place to start looking for answers for this. This Army Major was exposed to some of the worst testaments of human acts of hostility imaginable on a day-by-day basis. I do concede he allowed himself to become a murderer and will have to face that. I do concede that he failed to formalize his disqualification from serving duty when told to serve a tour in a combat theater.

It is known that no heart or soul becomes corrupted until the mind has been contaminated with garbage, first....and brother...there is a lot of garbage everywhere you turn. The media is like a stove top with every burner on high and lots of pots and kettles calling each other "Black".

The country needs to calm down and stop becoming hungry and addicted to flaming media. We can't expect our government to censor or disqualify every citizen from service over casual contact with any of the flaming media sources. The weakest minds fall first and take out descent people like you and me.

If we want to be free people and live like civil people worthy of our freedoms, we must recognize the weakening conditions of our brother's mental health and become his keeper, instead of his judge or juror at his trial.

We all as a community failed to remain connected to an Army Major Psychiatrist and serve his needs. He needed us and we were not there. Many of us now are trying to point fingers at our government and towards his religion, or his race, or ethnicity. I don't buy that garbage.

The man fried dancing on the hot burners of our American Media stove top, and some of our brothers, sisters and loved ones died over his weakened mental health. He wasn't born a killer. His environment taught his role to him and he became one!

[SusanStoHelit]

Come off it. You don't get PTSD by LISTENING to people describe their experiences, any more than you get Gonorrhea by listening to someone describe an encounter with a prostitute.

He was a coward, he didn't want to go, and when he couldn't get out of his freely chosen commitment, he became a workplace shooter - killing innocents because he thought he was entitled to vent his anger. He's less than a terrorist - at least they have some goal they believe is worthy. He's just a murderer.

Any help he needed was available to him - he chose his actions.

[91786]

He was surrounded by people that could tell what his mental condition was. Don't blame the Army for causing him to snap. He knew exactly what he was doing. He planned this for a long time. He could have even gone AWOL as he didn't have a wife or kids. He could have become Bin Laden's personal headshrink, He was a terrorist and he was a weapon. Liberal PC is what pulled the trigger.

[SusanStoHelit]

Sounds to me like he knew he COULDN'T get out - according to what they say, he had to have a dead spouse, or be on death's door to get out. That may be why he was trying to push for a special Muslim exit to be added.

I think he wanted out, I think he was exploring his options, likely talked to his commanding officer or an HR, or someone - but knowing the formal process wouldn't let him out, he didn't bother filing the papers, worked with the situation he had (taking the pay boost from a promotion).

The military put a lot of money and training into him - and he'd not be the only malingerer who didn't want to pay the bill when it came due. I think they saw him as nothing more than another recruit who wasn't happy about what they signed up for, to be made to honor his commitments.

And no, it's not downplaying the tragedy, nor providing an excuse, to look at what the factors were in this case. It's looking at the reality, to understand, to figure out what to do to stop the next Hasan before he has a chance to shoot. I think he's worse than a terrorist, myself. A terrorist at least has some goals beyond himself. This coward, this murderer - he was just afraid of being deployed, didn't want the inconvenience of paying back his debt - and because of his own petulant reaction, he decided rather than running, rather than having some courage to take his own life - nope - he'd go kill other innocents. The lowest type of person, who thinks their hurt feelings justify going around hurting others.

[mjlewis6]

I am guessing this option of leaving the service was not well thought out. The shortest line between two points is logical and he spent way too much time rationalizing himself into his predicament.

Clearly there was some kind of issue he was incapable of reconciling like 9/11 attacks and the tenuous connection that makes war in Afghanistan and Iraq a major American response to attacking the United States.

A second issue was the relevance of the bombing attacks on the World Trade Towers in 1993 by a cell of the blind Muslim Cleric in the United States. Didn't think about it? Surely he must have.

So, whether or not he could get out of the US Army under any classification...clearly even before he joined the armed forces, there were some issues he had not dealt with regarding Muslims attacking Americans. The instances of the bombing of the Khobar Towers, Saudi Arabia, the USS Cole attack, the US Embassy bombings in East Africa....He could have taken a peaceful stand at any time and
removed himself from the armed services, but that would mean he would not complete his internship. And then 9/11 happened and he decided something for himself. If anything, Hassan kept himself in the US Army....no guts to walk away and yet liked the position enough to accept promotion to Major. He must have really hated himself and others.

[FauxNews]

Maybe the Army knows he wants out now. Hopefully, someone over the next few months will start the out-processing forms.

[I_am_me1953]

Oh H311 No!

They need to keep that psycho terrorist in their own ranks!

Of course he will be fulfilling his duty at Fort Leavanworth Kansas, making little ones out of big ones, playing drop the soap and who's your bubba.

Then,if he is really lucky, after a few years, he will get his one big chance at catch the projectile.

[jtom58]

It is sickening that people like FauxNews downplay the tragedy and can only offer meaningless excuses for Hasan. There is little doubt that Hasan is guilty of conspiring to commit murder against those who were in his charge. This is an act of terrorism against our military on its home turf. Something that some chose to ignore or downplay. I am heartened by the resolve that our military has shown in the aftermath of this act of cowardice.

[FauxNews]

Hasan has no excuses and should be executed. Any decent leadership would have already convicted him of treason and done this.