With our close ties to military medicine, we offer our most heartfelt condolences to the soldiers involved in yesterday’s horrific attack at Ft. Hood as well as their families.

Yesterday, as a distraught Army psychiatrist opened fire on his fellow soldiers at the Ft. Hood Army Post in Killeen, Texas, the horror of war was tragically asserted at home. Military families already under the stress of repeat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan found the relative safety of the post shattered, and Americans around the country reeled over the news. Thirty were injured and 13 killed in the attack.

After the rampage ended, newspapers report that the soldiers and medics who were at the deployment readiness center where the shooting took place sprang into action. Soldiers ripped belts and garments from their own bodies to create tourniquets to stop the wounded from bleeding and loaded victims into vehicles and rushed them to the nearest hospitals. The trauma on post was as severe as that seen in war, and many were well prepared to deal with such a mass casualty situation. We’re so proud of the men and women in uniform who do whatever it takes–whether at home or at war–to care for their fallen comrades.

Ft. Hood, our thoughts are with you.