Fort Hood: Background information when reading You Know When the Men Are Gone

Fort Hood

This article relates to You Know When the Men Are Gone

If you've never been on a military base, you might be surprised, upon reading You Know When the Men Are Gone, at just how extensive Fort Hood, Texas, is. It's a small city unto itself, complete with all the services and conveniences that mean its residents never really have to leave if they don't want to. As Siobhan Fallon illustrates in her novel, different inhabitants have different reasons for embracing Fort Hood's insularity - or rejecting it.

Here are some quick facts about Fort Hood, the place Siobhan Fallon's characters call home, whether they like it or not:

Area: 340 square miles (by comparison, Manhattan Island is 23 square miles)

Date Permanently Established: 1951

Nearest Town: Killeen, TX

Average High Temperature: 94^oF (summer); 49^oF (winter)

Armored Divisions: 1st Cavalry, 1st Army Division West

Assigned Soldiers: 45,414

Population Served: 218,003

Civilian Employees: 8,909

Schools: 8 elementary, 3 middle, 2 high schools

Recreation Opportunities: golf, bowling, movie theater, hunting, fishing, ice skating, aerobics, public library, swimming pools

Medical Facilities: 1 hospital, 8 medical clinics, 7 dentists, 1 veterinary center

Newspapers: 2, one authorized: The Fort Hood Sentinel, one independent: The Fort Hood Herald

Primary source: www.hood.army.mil

Filed under Places, Cultures & Identities

This "beyond the book article" relates to You Know When the Men Are Gone. It originally ran in February 2011 and has been updated for the January 2012 paperback edition. Go to magazine.