To the Editor:

I have no intention of bothering to defend myself against the snide remarks made against me recently by Rick Reahr in his&bsp; letter of 25 November. However, he also insulted the U.S. Army and I cannot let that pass.

In his unfortunate letter, Mr Reahr asked why it was necessary for the post commander at Fort Hood to call in 9-11 to get help when a Palestinian-American Army major decided to commit mass murder on base ? &bsp;

He was puzzled by the lack of immediate response from within the base itself and wondered why the U.S. Army had to call in local cops and wait for a tough little civilian cop to come in and take out the threat ?

What Mr Reahr does not know is that, due to a shortage of troops, including military police at U.S. Army posts because of continuing deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere, the Army has been forced to hire civilian police at our military installations in the USA.

Thus, despite Mr Reahrs&bsp; statements, the U.S. Army authorities at Fort Hood did not call in 9-11; rather Fort Hoods very own civilian police coped with the situation.

Mr. Reahr owes an apology to every one of our dedicated men and women in the U.S. Army for his remarks, to include the final effrontery in which he suggested that we might also call 9-11 in Afghanistan, too.

If it were not for the valor of American troops in wars of the past and present, he would not be free to indulge in such egregious commentary.

Chuck Ross