By Marshall Zelinger
m.zelinger@krdo.com
Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mzelinger

COLORADO SPRINGS - Security at your military installations in Southern Colorado won't look any different in the wake of the Fort Hood shootings.  Fort Carson, Peterson Air Force Base and the Air Force Academy haven't announced any security changes.  That's not to say there aren't new measures in place.

"We don't want those who wish our team harm to know what processes and procedures or tactics we have in place to prevent incidents like this," said 4^th Infantry Division Lt. Col. Steve Wollman.  "I will tell you, and assure you that appropriate force protection measures are in place at Fort Carson at this time.  The people who live and work on Fort Carson should know that they are very well protected here on Fort Carson.

The 4^th I.D. just moved from Fort Hood to Fort Carson this past summer.  Lt. Col. Wollman estimates about 2,000 former Fort Hood soldiers and their families now live on the Mountain Post.

"The chain of command knows which soldiers and families have moved from Fort Hood to Fort Carson, and the chain of command will take the appropriate steps to reach out to them to see if they are being adversely affected by this tragic and horrible incident," said Lt. Col. Wollman.  "We ask any soldier or family member who is feeling a stress from this incident or any other incident, to take advantage of the behavioral health facilities and programs that we have here on Fort Carson."

The shooting on Fort Hood took place in a soldier readiness processing center.  According to a Fort Carson spokesperson, Fort Carson soldiers go through a readiness processing center three or four times a year.  They may go through the center right after returning from a deployment, during the year between deployments and/or just before a deployment.

"This is a center where soldiers who are about to deploy, their records are checked for personnel actions for finance actions and for medical actions," said Lt. Col. Wollman.

NEWSCHANNEL 13 asked Lt. Col. Wollman if a soldier should have access to their weapon during that process.

"Typically they do not.  Soldiers do not carry their assigned weapons at a readiness processing center," said Lt. Col. Wollman.

NEWSCHANNEL 13 also wanted to know if it's normal for soldiers to walk around an Army Post with a weapon, loaded or unloaded.

"The carrying of weapons that are loaded is done under very, very controlled circumstances out on a firing range.  There are a number of checks and balances to make sure that these weapons are being handled and carried properly and it is uncommon for them to be carried onto main Post," said Lt. Col. Wollman.  "Military weapons and ammunition are used on firing ranges, training ranges, away from main Post.  "All of our ammunition is stored in an ammunition storage point.  It's very, very tightly controlled both physically and administratively."

For a soldier to get ammunition for a weapon, it needs to be signed out and documented.

There's also another connection between Fort Carson and Fort Hood.  5,000 soldiers with the 3^rd Armored Calvary Regiment left Fort Carson in 2006 for Fort Hood.