An Alabama National Guard Unit arrived at Fort Hood earlier this week, shortly before Thursday’s shooting spree that left 13 dead and 30 wounded.

One of the soldiers reporting with that unit was one of Talladega’s finest, Talladega Police Detective Lisa Garrett.

Garrett had only been at the sprawling Army base since Monday, in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan after Thanksgiving. “There is nothing in Fort Hood but Fort Hood,” she observed shortly after arriving.

Garrett was in the right place when the violence broke out, but it was a near thing.

“Yes, I am fine and so blessed to be here,” Garrett wrote in an email to the Daily Home Friday afternoon. “We processed at the same location of the shooting on Tuesday and Wednesday. I completed my paperwork on Tuesday but had to return Wednesday to wait for a fax from my doctor’s office in Talladega. I had to wait nearly two hours just to have the faxed paperwork processed, because we have over 250 people in our unit. So the wait is always long no matter what you have to do. There were still a few people who had to complete paperwork, so they had to return a third time, the day of the shooting.”

Garrett and most of the other members of her unit were in the next building Thursday afternoon. “We were taken a block over to start getting issued items in a large warehouse. At around 1:45 or 1:50 (p.m.) we were in line when people started running inside the building and our commanders were yelling for everyone to get inside immediately. We had to gather inside and started getting a count of our people, which is the procedure to make sure we had accountability. After about 10 minutes or so, word was getting out that someone was shooting soldiers and several were dead. We had no information on who the person or persons were, the location or anything. We all were uneasy and anxious to find out how much danger we were in. (Then,) from several cell phones and computers inside, we started getting information on the exact location and could not account for one soldier. It was soon determined that the soldier was injured and hospitalized. (He) is expected to recover from the injuries. We each know the great loss we would have had if it were one or two days before. However, there was a great, great loss of soldiers. We will honor them through our service that they were so willing to do.”

The Associated Press reported that Maj. Randy Royer, a native of south Alabama, had been hit in the shoulder, leg and knee. He will require surgery, but is expected to recover. Royer’s wife was on her way to Texas Friday morning, according to the Associated Press.

“We have all shed tears because of this tragedy,” Garrett wrote in her email. “The civilians who worked at that center were so kind and helpful to each of us. Our encounter with them was only brief, but we will not forget their smiles and kindness. We are all determined to continue our mission with a passion. We came together as a family we are all we have for the coming year. You will hear about many heroes and selfless acts of bravery that occurred on Thursday. I am honored to live among those people.”