“The only defensive posture I had left was to lie prostrate on the ground, and wait to die”

Steve Watson
Infowars.com
April 9, 2014

A survivor of the shooting on the Fort Hood military base in Texas has penned an emotional letter that describes how he warned for five years that keeping the base as a ‘gun free zone’ would end in another mass shooting tragedy.

In an open letter that was read out loud Tuesday at the Texas Senate Committee on Constitutional Carry, First Lieutenant Patrick Cook states that he can “still taste the blood” from trying to resuscitate a colleague who sacrificed himself to save others during the twenty minute rampage that ended with three dead and 16 seriously wounded.

In the letter, the soldier blasts the notion that the right to bear arms has become little more than a “government-issued privilege” and pleads with lawmakers to reverse the trend.

“I write to you today not to memorialize this brave Soldier, nor to tell a war story about how we made the best of a losing situation, but to express the part of that story that some in high positions of power clearly do not want told.” Cook writes, adding ” I knew this was going to happen.”

“Worse yet, I know it will happen again. More will die, more will be wounded, more families will be torn apart, needlessly.” Cook adds. “It happened again, and will happen again, because Fort Hood is a gun-free zone.” the solider writes.

Cook notes that what turned into a “horrific massacre” could have been merely an “ugly incident” had soldiers not been “Stripped of a God-given Right” to arm themselves.

“When the first shots rang out, my hand reached to my belt for something that wasn’t there. Something that could have put a stop to the bloodshed.” Cook writes.

He adds “the only defensive posture I had left was to lie prostrate on the ground, and wait to die. As the shooter kicked at the door, I remember telling myself, “oh well, this is it.” It is beneath human dignity to experience the utter helplessness I felt that day. I cannot abide the thought that anyone should ever feel that again.”

Cook makes an appeal to lawmakers to take action to prevent another mass shooting from happening, noting “To those of you who hold elected office, if you hear nothing else I have told you, hear this: you have the power to stop the next massacre from happening. You have an opportunity to restore the sacred Right to bear arms, which has been either stripped entirely or unjustly relegated to the poor substitute of a probationary, government-issued privilege. For God’s sake, do the right thing.’

President Obama is scheduled to return to Fort Hood Wednesday for another memorial, four and a half years on from a visit he made in 2009 when 12 soldiers and one civilian were massacred at the same base.

The shooter, another soldier named Ivan Lopez, purchased the .45-caliber handgun used in the attack from the same local gun store where shooter Major Nidal Malik Hasan purchased his weapon in 2009, according to officials.

Here is First Lieutenant Patrick Cook’s full open letter addressing the Fort Hood shooting:

To my friends, fellow Texans, brothers in arms, members of the committee, and everyone within the sound of my voice, greetings.

My name is First Lieutenant Patrick Cook of the 49th Transportation Battalion, Fort Hood, Texas, and this past Wednesday I found myself trapped in an enclosed room with fourteen of my fellow Soldiers, one of whom was barricading the door against a madman with a .45 pistol when he was fatally shot. Through what I can only describe as a miracle, he somehow found enough strength to continue pushing against that door until the shooter gave up and went elsewhere, at which time he collapsed. Nearly a week later, I can still taste his blood in my mouth from when I and my comrades breathed into his lungs for 20 long minutes while we waited for a response from the authorities. This Soldier’s name was Sergeant First Class Daniel Ferguson, and his sacrifice loaned me the rest of my life to tell this story.

But I write to you today not to memorialize this brave Soldier, nor to tell a war story about how we made the best of a losing situation, but to express the part of that story that some in high positions of power clearly do not want told: I knew this was going to happen. I had been saying for five years that Fort Hood was a tinderbox of another massacre waiting to happen. It had to happen, because our betters failed to learn the obvious lesson of five years ago. Worse yet, I know it will happen again. More will die, more will be wounded, more families will be torn apart, needlessly. It happened again, and will happen again, because Fort Hood is a gun-free zone.

When the first shots rang out, my hand reached to my belt for something that wasn’t there. Something that could have put a stop to the bloodshed, could have made it merely an “ugly incident” instead of the horrific massacre that I will surely remember as the darkest twenty minutes of my life. Stripped of my God-given Right to arm myself, the only defensive posture I had left was to lie prostrate on the ground, and wait to die. As the shooter kicked at the door, I remember telling myself, “oh well, this is it.” It is beneath human dignity to experience the utter helplessness I felt that day. I cannot abide the thought that anyone should ever feel that again.

At the point blank range at which this shooting occurred, anyone with an M9 and some basic instruction could have ended the mayhem as quickly as it began. An MP by trade and a CHL holder, I am convinced that concealed weapons would have stopped it, but openly carried side-arms, like the ones carried in a law enforcement capacity, could have prevented it entirely. Instead, many more died because of the fatally misguided restrictions on the carrying of arms, which obviously the madman did not respect.

I shall conclude by restating my warning. This will happen again, and again until we learn the lesson that suppressing the bearing of arms doesn’t prevent horrific crimes, it invites them. To those of you who hold elected office, if you hear nothing else I have told you, hear this: you have the power to stop the next massacre from happening. You have an opportunity to restore the sacred Right to bear arms, which has been either stripped entirely or unjustly relegated to the poor substitute of a probationary, government-issued privilege. For God’s sake, do the right thing.

Thank you for your attention, and good day.

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Steve Watson is a London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, andPrisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University.

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