Shooting at Ft. Stewart Leaves Five U.S. Soldiers Wounded

What Happened?

Five U.S. soldiers were shot Wednesday at Ft. Stewart, an Army base located near Savannah, Georgia. According to a social media post from officials at Ft. Stewart, the shooter was apprehended, and the soldiers were taken to Winn Army Community Hospital for treatment. Law enforcement officials later issued a statement saying that the shooter was also a soldier stationed at Ft. Stewart.

The base, which is located about 40 miles southwest of Savannah, is home to the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division. About 10,000 people, including soldiers, family members and civilian employees, live there according to the base’s website.

Soldiers from Ft. Stewart have suffered other casualties within the past year. Two soldiers from the same brigade were killed in a training accident in late January when their vehicle rolled into standing water. In March, four soldiers died when their armored recovery vehicle fell into a bog in Lithuania.

Why it Matters

Mass shootings have been problematic for U.S. military installations during the past decade. In 2009, an Army psychiatrist with radical Islamist beliefs opened fire at a processing center at Fort Hood in Texas, killing 13 people and wounding 32 others. In 2013, a 34-year-old military contractor with ‘delusional’ beliefs opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard, killing 12 people and wounding three others.

In 2019, a Saudi Arabian soldier training with the U.S. military fatally shot three people and wounded at least eight others at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida, in what was believed to be a terrorist attack.

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While in the United States, military personnel do not typically carry weapons, except for security forces, which is the military’s equivalent of police. During deployments to designated combat zones overseas, military personnel often carry both weapons and live ammunition on their person as I did in Iraq. The issue of carrying weapons for self-defense while in the United States was raised following the 2009 shooting at Ft. Hood, and the senior military leadership decided against it.

The main reason the military decided not to permit military members to carry weapons while state-side is the likelihood of negligence leading to injuries or fatalities. If all military members carried weapons, that would mean tens of thousands of firearms being handled every day, and mathematically the odds of negligent discharges would become significant. Even trained professionals can make mistakes, and senior leaders decided the risks would outweigh the potential benefits.

Neither local law enforcement nor Ft. Stewart’s base leadership have given any indications as to possible motives for the shooting. As of Wednesday, the five soldiers who were shot were still alive but being treated for their wound. No details on their conditions have yet been made public.

How it Affects You

Even within the confines of military installations where access is strictly controlled and security is heavy, mass shootings can still happen. The Trump Administration could revisit the issue of whether or not military personnel on duty should be authorized to carry weapons, but so far that seems unlikely.

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