False Sense of Security

April 24: " 'There was one soldier shooting his weapon, and he shot and wounded another individual, and then shot and killed another person. In the housing area,' said Fort Bliss Maj. Gen. Howard Bromberg.
The one person killed at the scene was a Chapin High School student [just walking to school]. The person injured was identified as a Fort Bliss soldier and was taken to William Beaumont Hospital for treatment."

This shooting occurred in an adjacent neighborhood to ours. Our family takes walks through that neighborhood. It's funny to think that many military families believe that they are immune to these type of incidents. Many feel, I included at times, that we are safe because we live on a military post or military off-post housing. We have developed a false sense of security, a mind frame that no bad can happen to us. But, bad things do happen. They happened about five blocks down when we were at Polk, and they happened down the street when we were at Lewis. They happened at the Bliss PX (post exchange) and now in the adjacent neighborhood. We are not immune. We never will be.
Another thing. In some ways we should put up our defenses, be on guard. Who is going to protect us from us? Who is going to prevent the soldiers coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan that suffer from PTSD from cracking, pushed to their limits? There is a desperate need for some type of help, something to get these soldiers as close as they can to who they once were, provide support for them every step of the way, let them know that it's okay to feel the they do.
I know that PTSD is not the cause for all the incidents that happen on military installations. I know that military housing is not too different from non military housing, that anyone can snap, go crazy. Sometimes, though, I can't help but live in my bubble.