BOISE -- We've heard from many of you who have loved ones at Fort Hood. Some received phone calls that put their mind at ease while others continue to pray for some good news soon.
Master Sgt. Tony Liles of Boise is now stationed in Washington state but he was at Fort Hood for 18 months, responsible for supervising more than 200 soldiers. The shooting made him think of those left behind. “I have one of my best friends so I called him immediately and he told me everybody from my old unit were okay," Master Sgt. Tony Liles said.
According to Liles, the murders happened when the base of 40,000 people is especially busy.
"That is a hot traffic time, usually a lot of soldiers are coming back from lunch. Usually the army does lunch from 11:30 to 13:00. Usually about 13:30 everybody is either pulling into the parking lot or just getting back to going to where they were going prior to lunch,” Liles said. The reporter asked, “So if you have an intention of hurting people, that's a good time to strike?”
“It is,” he responded. “It would be a good time because there's so much traffic, so it's really easy to blend in.”
Easy to blend in, he says, but not an easy place to live. "You always have a soldier coming from Iraq and getting ready to go to Iraq and when a soldier comes from Iraq it's very hard to adjust to everyday life," Liles said.
One of Kris Pastor's former army buddies is at Fort Hood now. He says his friend was working through some personal problems, and he's concerned he's a suspect or a victim. His friend emailed right before the shooting. He hasn’t heard from him since.
"I've been emailing him frantically all day," Kris Pastor of the Idaho Army National Guard said. "Normally when we email, he e-mails back within 15-20 minutes saying,'Hey, how's it going?'" He just wants to know his friend is safe.
"I consider him a brother. He was there for me in my times of need and I was there for him," Pastor said.
