11/17/09 7:22 PMHasan did not formally seek to leave military, Army official says - washingtonpost.comPage 1 of 2http://74.6.146.127/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=http://www.washingto…html&d=cDwboN29TzSA&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=NSiyEcq1RK6cMTg_sKu2OA--
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Hasan did not formally seek to leave military, Army officialsays
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, November 11, 2009; 3:07 PM
The Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 peoplelast week at Fort Hood, Tex., did not formally seek toleave the military as a conscientious objector or for any other reason, an Army official said, despite claims by one of his relatives that he explored seeking a discharge.It is unclear whether Maj. Nidal M. Hasan made informal efforts to leave throughcontacts with his immediate superiors, and if so how his chain of command at lower levels might have responded to such efforts.But any formal request by Hasan to separate early would have been submitted to theDepartment of the Army, according to the official, who saw Hasan's file before it wasrecently sealed by Army investigators. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.In 2007, addressing other physicians at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Hasan saidthat to avoid "adverse events" themilitary should allow Muslim soldiers to be released as
conscientious objectors instead of fighting in wars against other Muslims. At the time of
the shooting, Hasan was about to be deployed to Afghanistan,officials have said.
Even if Hasanhad sought to quit the Army over his opposition to the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan, as his aunt has said he did, the Army almost certainly would have deniedany such request, senior Ar my officials said. Hasan had a continuing obligation becausetheArmy had provided himwith medical training.
In a further indication Hasan was not actively seeking formal discharge, he underwent anArmy promotion board in the spring of 2008 that called his performance as an officer as patriotic and elevated him from the rank of captain to major, a promotion that took placein May 2009, according to the official.The Army faces a severe shortage of officers who hold the rank of major, as Hasan does,and that shortage is particularly acute in some medical branches. The Army this year isshort about 2,000 majors needed to fill slots created as the service has grown in recentyears, according to Army data. In the field of medical doctors, the Army lacks about 15 percent of the majors it needs, the data show.To address the shortfall, virtually all Army captains are being promoted to major. TheArmy's promotion rate from captain to major has been well over 90 percent since theU.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, leading some officers to describe the trend as the "nomajor left behind" program.Hasan joined the Army in 1997, attended Army medical training and then worked as a psychiatry intern and resident at Walter Reed from 2003 until July of this year, when hewas transferred to the Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood. Hasan's lastofficial performance evaluation took place in June of this year, according to an Armysummary of his career known as an "officer record brief."Maj. Gen. Gina Farrisee, the Army's personnel chief, said in an interview Monday that
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