chapotraphouse

as it was explained to me, larger military bases are like cities in the US... complete with their own organized crime syndicates. certain bases are notoriously dangerous. Ft. Hood and Ft. Bragg are the ones that come to mind as being in the news for particularly grim incidents. investigative reporting on the situation is scant because it's politically embarrassing and information is tightly controlled about the military, so we tend only hear about it when the families of victims make a lot of noise because their naive, be-all-you-can-be 18 year old kid got murdered/disappeared/found dismembered on a base in the US. the families get whiplash from all the "thank you for your service" patriotism of the propaganda leading up to the moment their kid stops responding to phone calls/emails colliding violently with the institutional reality of "fuck you, you're on your own" within the actual US military for enlisted personnel.

I've heard people in the military say if they ever got posted to a base like Ft. Hood, they would go AWOL and never come back because it's "fucked". probably exaggerating, but the sentiment is there.