Let us remember the loved ones of those killed at Ft. Hood

Our thoughts and prayers are with those who lost friends and family in the Ft. Hood tragedy.  We know that right no there are no words that bring comfort and we ask all of you who read the grief blog to join with us in prayer for the loved ones who are now embarking of the grief path.

We would like to share with you what our friends at TAPS wrote about this incident:

FORT HOOD TRAGEDY DEEPLY IMPACTS AMERICA’S SURVIVING MILITARY FAMILIES

TAPS Hotline sees 200% influx Within 24 Hours of Shootings

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – November 6, 2009

WASHINGTON – For the families of America’s fallen heroes, the tragic events this week at Fort Hood stirred flashbacks and reignited past emotional pain. Phone calls from surviving families to the TAPS Call Center’s toll-free hotline (1.800.959.TAPS) spiked 200% in the first 24 hours after the tragic shootings.

Transfixed by the news, the 25,000 surviving military families connected through TAPS have grown somber in the knowledge that thirteen families were receiving the dreaded notification knock on the door by military casualty teams.

For many, yesterday’s events caused them to re-visit their own knocks on the door, and stirred memories of the frantic and overwhelming days that followed. Now, the TAPS organization faces an emotional mass casualty event of significant proportions – as hundreds of surviving families are transported back to the days their loved ones died via the Fort Hood media coverage.

Whether their loved ones died fighting in Iraq two years ago, in a flight training crash in California last year, or four years ago in Afghanistan…surviving family members of our fallen military nationwide were deeply shaken by the tragic events at Fort Hood.

For some, the insomnia that haunted them for months following a loved one’s death has returned. For others, the anxious fear that someone close to them will die is back. For most, the deep sadness they’d thought was shaken, lingers again near the surface of their emotions.

“We carry some emotional wounds with us on life’s journey, no matter how much time has passed,” said Bonnie Carroll, founder and chairman of TAPS. Carroll’s husband, US Army Brigadier General Tom Carroll, was killed in a plane crash in Alaska that took the lives of 8 National Guard soldiers in 1992. His death spurred her to found TAPS to connect and support survivors coping with the unique and public nature of military death.

“The news of the tragic events at Fort Hood yesterday has resulted in many of our families revisiting their own traumatic losses, and many have reached out for care and support due to secondary trauma,” said Carroll. In response, TAPS has increased capacity at its Call Center and survivor support staff are on standby, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at the organization’s toll-free hotline 1.800.959.TAPS (8277).

In spite of the secondary trauma many surviving families have experienced this week, Carroll said that many want to reach out in empathy and support the newly-bereaved families of those who died at Fort Hood. “No one has to walk grief’s journey alone. If you are grieving the death of someone who served in the Armed Forces, there is a community of surviving families ready and waiting to walk alongside you and support you. We will be here tomorrow, next week, and two years from now, to support the families of our fallen heroes,” said Carroll.

TAPS is the national organization providing compassionate care for the families of America’s fallen military heroes. The organization offers peer-based emotional support programs, grief seminars for adult survivors, Good Grief Camps for children and teens, casualty casework assistance, grief and trauma resources, and 24-7 crisis intervention and support. Services are provided free of charge. For more information or to donate, go to www.taps.org  or call the toll-free hotline at 1.800.959.TAPS.

Media Contacts
Elizabeth Kreft, Director of Communications & Outreach, 202.905.7262, elizabeth@taps.org
Ami Neiberger-Miller, Public Affairs Officer, 703.887.4877, ami@taps.org