Squared Away gate keeper.

My experience in the military comprises one full term of enlistment as a non-commissioned airman, as well as time spent in the New Jersey Air National Guard during the Lebanon crisis as a result of the  U.S. Marine Barracks Bombing there.

The recent carnage at Fort Hood is truly an unbearable sorrow. My thoughts and condolences go out to the victims and the bereaved. 

My feeling is that when a mission fails, senior ranking personnel  (in this case Base commander on down) has failed to properly ascertain the  readiness of it's subordinate ranks and failed to maintain the process and procedures which address the mission objectives.

This principal never changes no matter how high up the command chain it is realized. The Oath of office (always part of the contract as such), Time in  RANK + credential  + any special and on the job training is observed to comprise the skill set of command at any part in the chain of command. In the possible event that some part of the rank is broken or incapacitated, it is filled in promotions with the best qualified personnel on hand.  In the field promotion comes with subsequent training to hold the position. No one in the service skips the contract and oath.

In the command structure,  the top of each installation is the base commander. Such a command is usually reserved for academy graduates, I believe. That person is accountable for mission success or failure on that base. There are technical orders for procedures which have been tailored to the respective mission(s) at hand. These orders must be followed to preserve the integrity of said mission. When they are not followed process fails to address mission objectives and the mission fails.

Any competent review (standard evaluation from HQ)  of the mission status at Fort Hood will proceed to examine the facts on that basis.

The event in question: It looks like the person alleged to have committed the shooting assaults and murders at Fort Hood was some sort of squared away gate keeper. (Gate keeper: A person in a position of authority and trust who is put there to do a job, but who only gives the appearances of manning the position.)  He was at least 2 promotions away from a stint as base commander. As such, He held a position in the chain of command in a manner that was less than the prescribed duty. His web transgressions, moral and attempts to remove himself from duty roster indicate his readiness for duty and competence at his post were not foremost in his mind. He was not a Chaplin.  According to the news in print, He was a military trained psychiatrist, a MD who could prescribe psychotropic drugs and run a clinical practice.

He gave away his things before he went on the rogue killing mission he orchestrated. FBI and BATF agents who went to his home after he was shot, found little left there to indicate the cause of his homicidal rampage. We are told the rogue attacker  saw to it there was little left there beforehand. The alleged shooter seems like a really squared away gate keeper in this regard.

While it is certainly true that a narrowing of options is one of the hallmarks of mental illness, this individual never resigned his commission or raised doubts about his fitness to serve within the capacity he held in the minds of his superiors. Fact is he had been promoted to Major and was going to be shipped into battle.  Not only is resigning always an option,  he seemed perfectly at home in the acts of violating every cannon of ethics and tenet of the profession (any) medical practitioners would  have had a name for.

You can get out of the service in less than 2 weeks if you really want to get out. I don't have sympathy for the alleged shooter. He could have refused to man  his post. He could have signed papers that he was experimenting with hallucinogenic drugs such as Lysergic Acid Diethylamide.  They would have kicked his butt out of the military faster than Comet Haley travels in a day. He would have had to pay back the bill for his training though, and been barred from any similar work for life. But, he could have REALLY been "the worlds smartest Garbage man" and not done the harm that he did!  If at trial it is found that he did this, IT is treason. As he has sworn fidelity to The Constitution of the United States and has acknowledged the President is his commander in chief, he has acted (the shooter) as the enemy of the United States.

This would make him more of a home styled Manchurian Candidate. A sleeper agent of chaos and horrible  mayhem.