GI Riot Rocks Fort Hood

The Fort Hood Riots of Oct. 3, 1967
by Pvt. "Scotty" Frame
Fort Hood Texas

On the night of October 3rd many of the men of the 398th Light Infantry Brigade decided that they would rather go to the stockade then leave for Vietnam on the following day.

By early evening a feeling of tenseness had engulfed Fort Hood. The men of the 198th, though officially confined to their company areas, were wandering around the base looking for trouble. Later that night rioting broke out. An estimated $150,000 worth of damage was done to personal and government property. Two delivery trucks belonging to an on-post private business were heavily damaged. A new privately-owned car was demolished by the rioters. The windows of the Enlisted Men's Club as well as scattered windows and glass doors were broken. Two busses loaded with men returning to the base from Killeen were stopped and their windshields smashed. One bus driver entered the hospital with glass embedded in his eyes.

At approximately the same time as one group of men were conducting a panty raid on the WAC barracks another group was beating a Second Lieutenant to death.

One well founded rumor is that several shooting sprees took place but the "authorities" won't verify the fact that the rioting itself took place much less give out specific information about it.

The number of men that were arrested by the Military Police has not been disclosed and no one seems to know any of the names of the men arrested therefore making it impossible to interview any of the men in the stockade to gain a closer look at whet happened.

During the weeks before Oct. 4th I'd talked to many of the men in the 198th and not one of them felt that they'd had adequate time and training to go into combat. Most of them felt that this was due to the incompetency of their leaders. They knew that going to Vietnam meant almost certain death for many of them and, as the rioting, proved, the men don't want to die needlessly.

Even by the "rules" of the System the 198th is not prepared to go into combat, but, on Oct. 4th, the men who weren't in the stockade left for Vietnam and, for many, death. This proves that the System doesn't care how many of it's own soldiers are hopelessly slaughtered just as long as it has a reedy supply of bodies to be thrown on the burning fires of imperialism.

The men of the 198th Light Infantry Brigade know that they are going to die needlessly, but for them it is too late. Already their advanced party has been attacked and many of it's men killed or wounded.

The information contained in this article was gathered from men that had seen the rioting or were actively participating in it. Exact facts and figures are in the hands of the Fort Hood authorities, but will not be released to private individuals such as myself.

Censorship such as this is rampant in the Army and, until this is stopped, this is the moat accurate account of the rioting that I can give.

If only every G.I. could realize that he is not fighting for his country--that he is fighting and, perhaps, giving his life so that the war industrialists can make money and the politicians can make "political hay". If he could only realize that the patriots of this country are fighting against the war rather than in it.

The Bond, vol. 1, no. 10

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GI Riot Rocks Fort Hood