US soldier 'refused to leave wounded comrade' at Fort Hood shootings

A wounded soldier with a clear path to the exit refused to leave his fallen comrade behind even as a gunman fired off shots near them during last year's deadly rampage at the Fort Hood Army base, a military court heard yesterday.

Spc Alan Carroll said he had been shot in the arm but that as soon as he realised the chaos unfolding around him was not a training exercise, he had to help his more seriously wounded fellow soldier.

"The only person I could see from ground was Pfc [Aaron] Nemelka," Spc Carroll told the hearing via a live video link from Kandahar, Afghanistan. "I told him it was not training and to get down."

Spc Carroll was subsequently shot in the back and leg, but he said he had a clear path to the door and could have made it. Nevertheless, his training prevented him from escaping the bloodshed without Pfc Nemelka.

"I'd been told never leave a fallen comrade. That's what was going through my mind. I needed to get out, but I needed to get him out with me," said Spc Carroll, who was deployed to Afghanistan 10 months ago.

He testified that Pfc Nemelka had been shot between his Adam's apple and his chest. Pfc Nemelka was among the 13 soldiers killed in the attack on 5 November.

The hearing is to determine if Major Nidal Hasan, 40, pictured, should stand trial over the Fort Hood shootings. He is charged with 13 counts of murder and 32 counts of attempted murder.