Fort Hood shooting survivor searches for forgiveness

Five years after the Fort Hood massacre that left 13 dead and 33 injured, what happened on November 5, 2009 remains a mystery to Melissa Stroop.

How did she survive when the soldier directly to her right was shot six times, and the soldier to her left was killed?

She still wonders why confessed gunman Nidal Hasan did not shoot her, too

"There was a moment when we were behind the cubicles taking cover when I saw another soldier from a sister unit," said Stroop, who was an Army social worker at the time. "I remember looking at her and just thinking, 'We may not make it out of here alive.' I was — at that moment — praying that God would take care of everything."

Stroop said those not physically struck by one of Hasan's bullets were required to go back to duty. So — 30 days after seeing her friends and colleagues shot and killed — she was deployed to Afghanistan.

"We had to put our issues, technically, in a box, and just ignore them while we helped others," Stroop said. "That delays the healing process. And it also creates other barriers for the healing process to begin."

Melissa Stroop was a witness to the carnage at the Central Texas Army post in 2009. WFAA

Stroop testified at Hasan's court martial, where he was sentenced to death. It is her goal to one day forgive him.

But that day hasn't yet arrived.

"Angry is an understatement. There are days when I try to forgive, because I know that's what God has asked me to do. But I'm not there yet," she said.

Stroop said it wasn't until after she left Afghanistan that she had the time to address her own post-traumatic stress disorder.

Today, she is still a social worker, employed at the VA, helping veterans with their own PTSD issues. She also serves on the City Council in Lavon.

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