Fort Hood forced soldiers to take part in 'mandatory fun days' to 'rebuild trust in the Army' after Vanessa Guillen's death and other suspicious disappearances
Fort Hood made soldiers take part in a weeklong retreat that they considered to be 'mandatory fun days' after the murder of Vanessa Guillen and a series of other suspicious deaths on the Texas army base.
The idea was to rebuild trust between leaders and soldiers following a spate of disappearances, murders and suicides on the base last year.
It was called Operation Phantom Action. The army touted it as a way for them to repair broken bonds but according to a new Vanity Fair article about the sinister army base, soldiers viewed them as 'mandatory fun days'.
These are some of the images the army shared last year of 'Operation Phantom Action' which they said was designed to 'rebuild trust' after the deaths of several soldiers at Fort Hood
The weeklong set of exercises included 'in depth' counseling, according to the army
The Fort Hood soldiers viewed the days more like 'mandatory fun days' they were forced to take part in
It's unclear what exactly the soldiers had to do as part of the retreat but in October 2020, the army blasted a press release about it.
'Operation Phantom Action kicked off here, Sept. 28, with the main goal being to restore trust between Soldiers and their leaders,' it said.
Command Sgt. Maj. Cliff Burgoyne Jr., III Corps and Fort Hood command sergeant major, said: 'Because we are really close to losing public trust, and our Army depends on the public being able to trust us.
Vanessa Guillen vanished April 2020 after reporting sexual harassment at the base
'Our Soldiers have to be able to trust us, and so everything is based on trust.
The point of the 'Operation' was to 'eradicate' what it called 'three corrosives' at Fort Hood - sexual assault and harassment, extremism and racism, and suicide.
Part of it included 'in-depth counseling'.
Guillen's murder was on April 22, 2020. Her remains were found scattered along a river in June.
Aaron David Robinson, who she'd complained to her family was harassing her, was accused of the murder in a federal complaint but he killed himself before ever going to trial.
In 2020, 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing including 13 who killed themselves and five who were killed.
Some of the deaths remain unsolved and the victims' families largely blame the leadership at the army base for what happened to them.
Timeline of Fort Hood disappearances/deaths
February 1, 2020: PVT Eric Christopher Hogan and PFC Anthony Nevelle Peak Jr. die in a car crash
March 1, 2020: SPC Shelby Tyler Jones is shot dead at a convenience store in Killeen
March 5, 2020: Spc. Christopher Wayne Sawyer found dead at his home. Foul play is not suspected.
March 14, 2020: SPC Freddy Beningo Delacruz Jr. is killed in a triple murder
March 23, 2020: Fort Hood soldier Spc. Jovino Jamel Roy, 22, was charged with murder after allegedly shooting former Fort Hood soldier Michael Steven Wardrobe, 22
April 22, 2020: Vanessa Guillen goes missing and is last seen in the parking lot of the base. She disappeared after telling her family she was being sexually harassed by a sergeant on the base.
May 18, 2020: Body of Army Pfc. Brandon S. Rosecrans, 27, was discovered with gunshot wounds and his Jeep was found three miles away engulfed in flames.
June 19, 2020: Search teams discover the corpse of missing soldier Pvt. Gregory Wedel-Morales following a tip to Army base investigators. Remains were found in a field in Killeen, just over 10 miles from Stillhouse Hollow Lake, five miles from Fort Hood.
July 1, 2020: First parts of Giullen's remains found about 20 miles east of Fort Hood.
Spc. Aaron Robinson, 20, kills himself. Officials say he killed and dismembered Guillén and had the remains disposed of.
July 17, 2020: Pvt. Mejhor Morta, 26, of Pensacola, Florida was found dead July 17 in the vicinity of Stillhouse Hollow Lake, around 15 miles from the Fort Hood base.
August 2, 2020: The body of Spc. Francisco Gilberto Hernandezvargas, 24, is recovered from Stillhouse Hollow Lake following boating incident not far from where Morta was found.
August 12, 2020: Spc. Cole Jakob Aton, 22, of Kentucky died after he was hit by a car as he was assisting a minor accident scene
August 13, 2020: National Guard soldier, Sgt Bradley Moore dies during a training exercise at the base
August 19, 2020: Sgt. Elder Fernandes, 23, is reported missing after he was last seen on August 17.
August 26, 2020: The body of Fernandes is believed to have been found about 30 miles from Fort Hood .