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This is why I am a sponsor of the Fort Hood Families Benefits Protection Act, H.R. 4088, introduced by Rep. John Carter [R-Texas]. The service members who lost their lives at Fort Hood were days from deployment, and this legislation would ensure that these service members and civilian employees are treated in the same manner as those who are killed or wounded in combat zones or civilian employees who are killed or wounded in a terrorist attack. Under the legislation, those wounded or killed in the Fort Hood attack and their families would be eligible to receive the benefits and acknowledgments they deserve, including: the Purple Heart, the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Defense of Freedom, compensation, rehabilitation pay, medical expenses, family transportation expenses, special tax treatment, and life insurance coverage, among other benefits.

Mr. Burgess,

In the wake of the terror attack on our troops at Ft. Hood, there has been very little, if any dialogue addressing the eligibility for the Purple Heart for those fallen soldiers and their wounded comrades.

I know that the administration would rather foist the health care debacle on us than deal with the reality of what occurred at Ft. Hood, but I would appreciate your opening the dialog in the house as they are the victims of international terrorism on U.S. soil, irrespective of the level of infiltration accomplished by Maj. Hasan.

To do this we must either admit that Hasan was a terrorist and that the act was terrorism, or introduce a bill that expands the eligibility for Purple Hearts to include an attack on soldiers by class, I.E. if soldiers are targeted because they are soldiers either by those that are violent protesters or to prevent them from engaging in deployment, then they would be eligible for a Purple heart...retroactively to include the attack at Ft. Hood.

I would also like to see actions taken to re-arm our troops during station keeping. This was done away with during Viet Nam, but had the soldiers had their issued weapons the attack never would have happened as these cowards always chose soft targets. If it had, then three long minutes of unbridled carnage would have been stopped in seconds. We trust them with millions of dollars in tanks, aircraft, artillery and high capacity weapons when deployed, why are they less trustworthy here, protecting our native soil?

Thank You,
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