Contact 17: Mom Reacts to Fort Hood Shooting

In a Contact 17 story a local mom with a son stationed at Fort Hood, tries to get back to normal this week after the news about the murders at her son's base. Rebecca Robles says her heart stopped last week when she got news of the murders at Fort Hood. It took hours to hear her son, Army Specialist Victor Robles was okay. I thought. 'He's going to be safe here, on American soil.' Now that sense of security is gone for Robles. Her son has been in the Army eight years and she's struggled to deal with her fears through his two deployments. But the shooting spree Thursday made her feel like her son isn't safe anywhere. He wouldn't answer his cell phone, I couldn't get ahold of him, he couldn't call us. The shooting that brought new fears to many who have loved ones in the military is also bringing up questions about Muslim soldiers in the U.S., about whether they should have to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan despite their beliefs. Army Major Ahmed Dawlatly who is not Muslim, but is Arabic and knows what it's like to come from a different culture yet serve in the U.S. Army. We are fighting a war in Iraq, Muslim country, and Afghanistan, currently the soldiers that are Muslim don't want to go overseas to fight. But this is something I don't understand, because they took an oath for the U.S. Army or any other branch to serve, said Dawlatly. Veteran Mitchell Edmonson thinks things may have changed since he served in the first Gulf War. I know they did things different when I was in, because the guys that were registered Muslims on the ship I was on got flown off immediately,'' he said. Dawlatly says soldiers have options if they have a reason they don't want to deploy. He said if he were in that position he would go to his chain of command and explain, or even take a dishonorable discharge. Those were options the alleged Fort Hood shooter didn't take. He's basically an extremist,'' said Dawlaty. ''He's not just Muslim. I get upset by people saying he's a Muslim and he's done this. No. He's an extremist.'' If you have a story you want to share with us, you can email us by going to our website and clicking on the Contact 17 button.

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