Hero in the Hood

Second time around, it’s farce. At Fort Hood, a US Army shooter shoots at his own side in a four-minute tantrum. Before turning his gun on himself, Specialist Ivan Lopez chalks up a ludicrously low number of casualties – three dead and 16 wounded; 10 fewer fatalities than the first time this Texas army base became a shoot-to-kill firing range, back in 2009.

As George Bush Jnr is to artist, so the second shooter is to psycho-killer (from photos, only his nose looks like Robert de Niro’s in Taxi Driver – nothing else). If not for previous form – (a) former president with a reputation for poor taste and matching intelligence, i.e. the dumb dauber; (b) the military base already blighted by human tragedy, i.e. uncanny echo – neither one would fit across the Front Page.

Forget farcical: the Fort Worth sequel should be up there, anyway. Not for the tawdry shooting spree, possibly sparked by a dispute about leave days and work rotas among Uncle Sam’s truck drivers; but for the truly headline heroism of Sergeant First Class Danny Ferguson. According to local sources, Ferguson held shut the door which kept the shooter away from a roomful of innocent occupants – and got himself shot up instead.

He even looked like Tom Hanks, for chrissake.

For all I know, Ferguson might have frowned upon ‘chrissake’ for taking the name of the Lord in vain; or he may have been a blaspheming sonofabitch. Either way, his courageous action – Jeez, he chose to go From Here To Eternity – requires hero worship from the rest of us.