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BBQ Barn opens location near USCA
11/20/2009 9:36 PM
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Insulation business to begin work Dec. 3
11/20/2009 9:36 PM
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Officials meet to discuss parks at NERP workshop
11/20/2009 9:37 PM
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Whiskey Road project still a go, with modifications
11/20/2009 9:35 PM
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Local News in Brief for Nov. 21
11/20/2009 9:24 PM
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Man held in Warrenville murder
11/20/2009 9:04 PM
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Salvation Army begins drive
11/20/2009 9:04 PM
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Sheriff Hunt is named Clearwater fire chief
11/20/2009 9:04 PM
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Aiken High inducts students into National Technical Honor Society
11/20/2009 5:26 PM
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Police nab final Aiken drive-by suspect
11/20/2009 5:26 PM
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Woman knits 200 caps for charity
11/20/2009 5:26 PM
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ACSO investigating suspicious death
11/20/2009 8:21 AM
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Unprofessional behavior plagues SRS
11/19/2009 5:24 PM
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Atlantic keeps families in touch
11/19/2009 5:24 PM
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Commission shoots down zoning for 'sporting park'
11/19/2009 5:25 PM
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Aiken-raised author brings up topic of race
11/19/2009 4:26 PM
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National parks delegates meeting in Aiken
11/19/2009 4:26 PM
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Havoc comes to enchanted land in educator's 22nd production
11/19/2009 4:26 PM
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Columnist offers CSRA read
11/19/2009 3:45 PM
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Course teaches officers how to better detect drunken drivers
11/19/2009 4:27 PM
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Couple to sign books on South
11/19/2009 3:45 PM
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Horse clinic to address shots, saddles, more
11/19/2009 3:44 PM
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Seniors get crash course in politics
11/19/2009 3:44 PM
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N.A. officer arrested, suspended
11/18/2009 6:27 PM
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SPCA brings Santa in for pet pictures
11/18/2009 9:39 PM
Wounded Fort Hood soldier has local ties
11/6/2009 11:47 PM
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Jackie Gray hadn't heard about the horrific shootings Thursday at Fort Hood, Texas, until her daughter Stephanie Royal called her with the news that Gray's son-in-law had been wounded in the rampage.
An Aiken Middle School guidance counselor, Gray said Friday that Chris Royal, a chief warrant officer 2 (CW2), barely escaped serious injury and was released from a hospital Thursday night.
Thirteen people were killed and 30 were wounded in the attack by an Army psychiatrist, who was injured by return fire and remained unconscious and on a ventilator Friday.
Stephanie, an Army captain at Fort Hood, is an eight-year veteran, and her husband joined the service about 13 years ago. Chris is scheduled to return to Iraq for his fifth tour in December; Stephanie, like her husband a signal corps specialist, will deploy for her third tour in February.
Gray, an Irmo resident, served as a career counselor at Wagener-Salley High School last year before joining the Aiken Middle School staff this fall.
"I spoke to Chris last night, and he said he was fine," Gray said. "He didn't realize he had been shot. He was telling people to get down, and then someone told him he was bleeding and tried to stop it."
According to The Associated Press, the incident began Thursday about 1:30 Central Standard Time at the Soldier Readiness Center, where medical screening was under way for soldiers about to be deployed or returning for overseas duty. The post went into immediate lockdown as emerging workers began to treat the victims.
Stephanie is on a joint forces assignment and learned through a text message that her husband had been shot. She couldn't leave her location, however, because of the lockdown.
She initially heard that her husband had been hit in the shoulder. A colonel later arranged transportation for her to get to the hospital, but it was around 6:30 p.m. before she could get there.
Upon her arrival, her mother said, Stephanie discovered that her husband had been shot in the back, with apparently a single bullet passing through him.
"It was chaos in there," Gray said after conversations with her daughter. "My son-in-law is grateful that the Lord guided the bullet. It almost touched his spine."
When Stephanie was attending Spring Valley High School in Columbia, Gray and her husband, Joseph, encouraged her to try ROTC. Stephanie had no interest, but, as a sophomore at S.C. State University, she decided to try it. She enjoyed the experience so much that she went on active duty the day she graduated.
Stephanie met Chris while they were stationed in Iraq. They married in December 2006 and welcomed a son in February 2008. Gray said her daughter has tried to protect her at times. While on leave from her first deployment, Stephanie visited her mother at A.L. Corbett Middle School in Wagener, where Gray was then employed.
While talking with a group of students, Stephanie asked her mother to leave because she didn't want Gray to hear about some of the things she had experienced. As Gray later learned, Stephanie described a variety of chilling incidents, such as a little child with an Uzi, screaming over and over about killing Americans.
Chris planned his return to the United States in August so he could go back once more at roughly the same time as Stephanie. The Royals will leave their son with Gray and her husband during their deployments. Gray said with a smile that she expects to spend lots of money on care packages, just like she has done before.
"I tell people when it's your time, it's your time," Gray said. "I pray, and I'm OK with it. I can't let it worry me. Otherwise, I couldn't survive."
Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.
11/6/2009 11:47 PM
1 comment(s) on this story E-mail this story to a friendJackie Gray hadn't heard about the horrific shootings Thursday at Fort Hood, Texas, until her daughter Stephanie Royal called her with the news that Gray's son-in-law had been wounded in the rampage.
An Aiken Middle School guidance counselor, Gray said Friday that Chris Royal, a chief warrant officer 2 (CW2), barely escaped serious injury and was released from a hospital Thursday night.
Thirteen people were killed and 30 were wounded in the attack by an Army psychiatrist, who was injured by return fire and remained unconscious and on a ventilator Friday.
Stephanie, an Army captain at Fort Hood, is an eight-year veteran, and her husband joined the service about 13 years ago. Chris is scheduled to return to Iraq for his fifth tour in December; Stephanie, like her husband a signal corps specialist, will deploy for her third tour in February.
Gray, an Irmo resident, served as a career counselor at Wagener-Salley High School last year before joining the Aiken Middle School staff this fall.
"I spoke to Chris last night, and he said he was fine," Gray said. "He didn't realize he had been shot. He was telling people to get down, and then someone told him he was bleeding and tried to stop it."
According to The Associated Press, the incident began Thursday about 1:30 Central Standard Time at the Soldier Readiness Center, where medical screening was under way for soldiers about to be deployed or returning for overseas duty. The post went into immediate lockdown as emerging workers began to treat the victims.
Stephanie is on a joint forces assignment and learned through a text message that her husband had been shot. She couldn't leave her location, however, because of the lockdown.
She initially heard that her husband had been hit in the shoulder. A colonel later arranged transportation for her to get to the hospital, but it was around 6:30 p.m. before she could get there.
Upon her arrival, her mother said, Stephanie discovered that her husband had been shot in the back, with apparently a single bullet passing through him.
"It was chaos in there," Gray said after conversations with her daughter. "My son-in-law is grateful that the Lord guided the bullet. It almost touched his spine."
When Stephanie was attending Spring Valley High School in Columbia, Gray and her husband, Joseph, encouraged her to try ROTC. Stephanie had no interest, but, as a sophomore at S.C. State University, she decided to try it. She enjoyed the experience so much that she went on active duty the day she graduated.
Stephanie met Chris while they were stationed in Iraq. They married in December 2006 and welcomed a son in February 2008. Gray said her daughter has tried to protect her at times. While on leave from her first deployment, Stephanie visited her mother at A.L. Corbett Middle School in Wagener, where Gray was then employed.
While talking with a group of students, Stephanie asked her mother to leave because she didn't want Gray to hear about some of the things she had experienced. As Gray later learned, Stephanie described a variety of chilling incidents, such as a little child with an Uzi, screaming over and over about killing Americans.
Chris planned his return to the United States in August so he could go back once more at roughly the same time as Stephanie. The Royals will leave their son with Gray and her husband during their deployments. Gray said with a smile that she expects to spend lots of money on care packages, just like she has done before.
"I tell people when it's your time, it's your time," Gray said. "I pray, and I'm OK with it. I can't let it worry me. Otherwise, I couldn't survive."
Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.
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1 comment(s) on this storyFort Hood : 11/7/2009
Our son was also there and most of the lost was in his troop he was also saved by the lord telling him to move and he did 30 seconds before the man next to him was shot down and killed this is an awful thing for our troops to not even feel safe. training to fight for out country
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