Solider's Mom Wants to Make Sure Other Families Don't Have to Wait

Mother tries to change military protocol after son's death at Fort Hood
Indy Star
Kara Berg
April 15, 2017

Right now, when a soldier goes missing, the army conducts an inquiry to see where they may be, notifies the provost marshal within 24 hours, reports the soldier absent within 48 hours and notifies the next of kin if the soldier is still missing after 10 days.

When Patrice Wise's son was found dead, she didn’t know how to move on.

The Arlington, Indiana, woman remembers the sleepless nights her and her fiancé spent searching for her son, Dakota Stump, who was a soldier on an Army base in Fort Hood when he disappeared. When his body was found in a wooded area, around 100 yards from the road at the base, the days and nights dragged on.

“I’ve tried so many things to keep myself busy and not constantly be reminded of what happened,” Wise said. “It helps, but I don’t think a mother ever gets over losing a child.

“I feel like every day that goes by, it almost gets worse."

Stump's body was discovered next to his flipped-over vehicle by soldiers conducting land-navigation training. He was only 32 pounds when he was found after a month, Wise said. Investigators believe the vehicle left the road, entered the wooded area and rolled over multiple times. The terrain hid the vehicle from the road.
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