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Local Army reservist can’t shake images of Fort Hood aftermath

Army Reserve Col. Kathy Platoni is greeted by her husband John Hutchinson Tuesday, Nov. 24, at Dayton International Airport upon her return from Fort Hood. Platoni was training for deployment to Afghanistan when three members of her unit and six others were killed during a shooting rampage.

Staff photo by Jan Underwood Army Reserve Col. Kathy Platoni is greeted by her husband John Hutchinson Tuesday, Nov. 24, at Dayton International Airport upon her return from Fort Hood. Platoni was training for deployment to Afghanistan when three members of her unit and six others were killed during a shooting rampage.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Col. Kathy Platoni gives a hug to Susan Young in front of fallen soldiers memorial before the start of the Memorial ceremony held at U.S. Army's III Corps headquarters in Fort Hood, Texas, on Tuesday, November 10, 2009. Young an LVN was at the SRP Center and performed medical aid helping save several wounded soldiers shot during Thursday's shooting.

Photo by Rodolfo Gonzalez/ Austin American-Statesman via The New York Times Col. Kathy Platoni gives a hug to Susan Young in front of fallen soldiers memorial before the start of the Memorial ceremony held at U.S. Army's III Corps headquarters in Fort Hood, Texas, on Tuesday, November 10, 2009. Young an LVN was at the SRP Center and performed medical aid helping save several wounded soldiers shot during Thursday's shooting.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Margo Rutledge Kissell, Staff Writer Updated 8:20 PM Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Army Reserve Col. Kathy Platoni of Beavercreek can’t shake the images of seeing her fellow soldiers die in the aftermath of the shooting rampage at Fort Hood.

“It’s probably the most difficult thing most of us have ever been through in our lives,” said Platoni, 57, a clinical psychologist who maintains a private practice in Centerville.

She is to arrive home Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 24, on leave for Thanksgiving.

Slated to deploy to Afghanistan in early December with the Madison, Wisc.-based 467th Medical Detachment, Combat Stress Control, Platoni arrived at the sprawling Texas military post the day before the Nov. 5 rampage. She knew five of the soldiers who were killed and several of the wounded.

The morning of the shootings, she had spent several hours in the readiness processing center where Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is accused of later killing 13 people and wounding 30 others.

Platoni was in line in the nearby Soldier’s Dome about 1:30 p.m. when she heard people screaming that shots had been fired in the other building.

She shoved several soldiers out a back door and then saw people begin carrying in the wounded.

She was at the side of her friend, Capt. John Gaffaney, 56, who was bleeding from several gunshot wounds, when he died. In all, three people from her unit were killed and six others were injured. She also knew two others who died from her “sister” unit, the 1908th Medical Detachment in which she used to serve.

In the weeks since the tragedy, Platoni said she and fellow reservists have been “hanging together very tightly” and talking a lot about what happened.

On Saturday, she joined other soldiers in going through a formal behavioral health screening and interview to see how she’s coping. She hasn’t been called back for a second interview, which she views as a positive sign.

Platoni did not know Hasan but said he was assigned to deploy with her unit.

“You could come to the conclusion he targeted us,” she said.

Platoni said she and other reservists are committed to carrying out their upcoming mission despite the tragedy.

“Though Hasan wanted to stop this mission, he lost,” she said. “We are going forward.”

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