Faced with another tragedy, the Fort Hood community again showed its strength as Soldiers and Families joined the nation Wednesday in mourning and honoring the lives lost April 2.
Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Ferguson, Staff Sgt. Carlos Lazaney-Rodriguez and Sgt. Timothy Owens were killed in last week's on-post shooting.
The three were remembered and honored during a memorial ceremony attended by President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, Army Secretary John McHugh, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno and other national and state dignitaries and leaders.
The president spoke about love -- love in the midst of joy and sorrow, and love that inspires Soldiers to serve.
"It was love, tested by tragedy, that brings us together again," Obama said, referencing a similar memorial service held Nov. 10, 2009, following the shooting at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center on Fort Hood that killed 13.
Love, the president said, led Ferguson, Lazaney-Rodriguez and Owens to serve.
"It was love for country that inspired these three Americans," Obama said, noting that the three had nine deployments among them. "They lived those shining values -- loyalty, duty (and) honor that keep us strong and free."
With their different backgrounds and with varied interests, their service bound the Soldiers together, III Corps and Fort Hood Commanding General Lt. Gen. Mark Milley said.
"They were united by a single desire," Milley said, "the desire to serve their country."
Lazaney-Rodriguez came from a close-knit Family in Aquadillo, Puerto Rico. He enlisted in the Army at 18 and served three deployments in his 19 years of service.
Lazaney-Rodriguez was months away from retirement when he was killed April 2, Milley said.
"Carlos, said a friend, was the 'epitome of what you would want a leader to be in the Army,'" Obama said.
Owens loved baseball, football, wrestling and taekwondo. He was a black belt in taekwondo and taught martial arts before joining the Army in 2004. Owens arrived at Fort Hood in 2011 and had served one deployment in 2005.
He often counseled other Soldiers.
"He was always the person you could go to talk to," Obama said, relaying the words of one of Owens' friends.
Ferguson, a Bronze Star medal recipient, was an "outstanding" high school athlete who excelled at football, baseball and basketball, and ran track. He deployed to Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan.
His fiancée said that being in the Army was his life, Obama said.
They all lived with and knew the inherent dangers that come with being Soldiers, McHugh said.
"These men were not just Soldiers," McHugh said. "They were comrades. They were friends. They were leaders. ... They will rightly be long remembered, mourned and forever celebrated."
Acts of love were the last actions of two of the fallen.
"It was love for their comrades, for all of you, that defined their last moments," Obama said, noting that Owens, ever the counselor, was killed while walking toward the shooter and trying to calm him down.
Ferguson died a hero April 2.
"He was shot as he held a door closed to protect a roomful of other Soldiers," Milley said. "He put himself in the line of fire to save them."
Many noted the troubling circumstances by which these Soldiers lost their lives.
Odierno said the loss of any Soldier is terrible, but a loss at home is even more distressing.
"The loss of any Soldier, in any circumstance, is a tragedy for a unit or a Family," the Army chief said. "That these Soldiers were lost on American soil at the hands of one of our own makes this tragedy heartbreaking and inexplicable."
Odierno also offered words of support and comfort, for the Families, the wounded and the Fort Hood community.
He pledged the support of the entire Army Family for those affected by the shooting.
"Today we are all here to tell you and show you that our Army and our nation are here for you," Odierno said. "But we must come together as an Army, as a community and as a nation to learn from Wednesday's tragic events and support and heal one another."
Odierno said the Fort Hood community is no stranger to loss and grief, but also knows full well about strength and resilience in the face of adversity and will continue to come together.
"We will lift each other up with our compassion, our strength and resilience because that's who we are," Odierno said.
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