Nov 8, 2009 1:57 pm US/Mountain
Colorado Soldiers React To Fort Hood Shootings
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (CBS4/AP) ―
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A soldier salutes during a moment of silence before the Army-Air Force football game on Saturday.
CBS
Colorado's military members and veterans remembered those injured and killed in Thursday's shooting rampage at Fort Hood.
At Falcon Stadium Saturday soldiers and airmen set their fierce rivalry aside and joined to honor their fallen comrades with a moment of silence.
Army players wore the insignia of the 4th Infantry Division, which is headquartered at Fort Carson, on their jerseys.
About 40 squadrons of cadets from the Air Force Academy and West Point stood at attention on the field, their pennants fluttering in a stiff, cold breeze before the national anthem. The announced crowd of 46,212, many of them military personnel in uniform, stood quietly in the stands.
Air Force won, 35-7. Afterward, Army coach Rich Ellerson said the team had spoken about the Fort Hood shootings, but he declined to say how it affected the players
Service members say events like the football game that bring them together also help them deal with tragedies.
"Most understand this is not a normal occurrence. It's an anomaly and they do feel safe in their units with the people they work with and they'll recognize this is just something that is not a norm within our service," Col. Mark McKearn with the U.S. Army said.
"If you're in the field and your buddy goes down next to you, you've got to just keep moving on. Fight now, cry later," Air Force fighter Ralph Guccione said.
At a ceremony to honor Colorado veterans, many said the shootings show the military needs to address mental health issues facing those in uniform.
"One of their own has gone off the deep end, for whatever reason, we don't know what happened, but he needed help," said June Turner, a military mother.
Investigators still don't know what motivated Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan in the shooting.
The shootings hit some Fort Carson soldiers especially hard. About 2,000 servicemen and women transferred from Fort Hood to Fort Carson this year under an Army reorganization.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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