Tuesday, November 10, 2009

A True American Hero


Thirteen people were killed when an Army psychiatrist allegedly opened fire on soldiers at the Fort Hood Army base, including Maj. Libardo Caraveo. Here is a short profile:

Maj. Libardo Caraveo, a 52-year-old psychologist, was preparing for his first deployment into a combat zone with a support unit that helped soldiers deal with the stresses of war. He arrived at Fort Hood on Wednesday to finish up paperwork before heading for Afghanistan, his son Eduardo, 31, said by phone from Tucson, Arizona.


“He was somebody to look up to, somebody to admire,” Eduardo Caraveo said. “He was a true self-made man, very driven, very hard-working.”


Maj. Caraveo Va., had arrived in the U.S. from Mexico speaking little English as a teenager, his son said. The major put himself through school and eventually earned a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona.


He had worked as a teacher and at the Federal Bureau of Prisons and had a private practice in Woodbridge, Va. He’d been in the National Guard for ten years, and had spent one year at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.


As a member of the 467th Combat Stress Control Detachment, he would have been responsible for dealing with battlefield trauma in Afghanistan.


His son Eduardo said they hadn’t spoken much about the details of his father’s deployment, adding, “I didn’t even know the actual date.”