KILLEEN, Texas—The Islamic Center of Greater Killeen is on S. Ft. Hood Street three miles south of the army base. It is a mosque Maj. Nidal Malk Hasan often visited during his time stationed at Ft. Hood.
But the mosque also marks the entrance to a subdivision that is home to another Army Major: one who is trying to head off a second attack on his religion.
“We’re not terrorists. Every Muslim is not a terrorist. We’re regular people.”
The words are from Maj. Derrill Guidry, a soldier and 19-year-veteran of the Army. He converted to Islam 17 years ago. The native of Louisiana has served two years in Iraq. But it’s the last week at Ft. Hood that makes him worry.
“What’s next,” he said, “I’m not worried about terrorists. I’m worried about what somebody else thinks of me because I’m Muslim. That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Guidry wanted to speak out to show the other side of Islam: the one he practices daily and peacefully in concert with his life as an American soldier. His own blog has been devoted to the subject since the mass shooting.
“It’s not Islam,” he said of those who try to defend violence in the name of religion. “It’s not being a good Muslim if you can’t just live your life normally day to day and still do those things you know in your heart are honorable right and just.”
Voices nationwide are calling for an investigation into Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s potential terrorist ties in his attack at Ft. Hood that killed 12 soldiers and one civilian.
Guidry says his years as a soldier, not as a Muslim, make him believe the stress of a pending deployment, not just a distortion of Islam, led Hasan to his vicious explosion.
“I’m always aware that the potential for someone to snap is always there,” he said.
As for life now at Ft. Hood, he says the men and women on post are soldiering on. Muslims, Christians, and Athiests alike are hoping a backlash never comes.
“I’m a soldier who just happens to be Muslim. It doesn’t have anything to do with my job,” he said. “We need the support of the American people in order to survive as soldiers. Knowing that the people we serve are behind us, beside us, and with us, gives us the encouragement we need to intentionally make it through each day that we put on our uniforms and go to work whether here in the United States or overseas in a combat zone.”
