Published: November 06, 2009 11:06 pm      

Fort Hood shootings: Local native aiding in aftermath, sister says

It’s a good thing Barb Cummins was not watching the news Thursday afternoon.

If she had been, the resident of Conemaugh Township, Somerset County, would have seen the initial coverage of the shootings at Fort Hood in Texas – and then would have had to wait in anguish for word of her brother’s fate.

Instead, Cummins first heard of the incident in a telephone call from her sister-in-law, informing her that Master Sgt. Gary Podrasky was safe.

“It puts a lump in your throat when you think about what might have happened,” Cummins said Friday.

Podrasky, 54, is a native of Conemaugh Township’s Ideal area and a graduate of what is now called Greater Johnstown Career and Technology Center.

“He has been going around the different military bases training troops before they are deployed,” Cummins said.

That job had led Podrasky to Fort Hood. And his office, Cummins said, was 12 blocks from the scene of the Thursday shooting that left 13 people dead and 30 wounded.

Podrasky’s wife, Maryann, was not on the sprawling military base at the time of the incident.

But the soldier was able to get word to his spouse relatively quickly.

“All he was able to tell his wife was that he was safe,” Cummins said.

As of Friday afternoon, Cummins had not yet been able to speak to her brother. But she was told Podrasky now is part of a team assembled to deal with the tragedy’s aftermath.

Cummins says her brother is a good man for such a difficult job: He joined the Army at age 17 and has served ever since.

“He’s a very caring and loving person and is concerned about his country,” she said.

“He wants to stand up for the people of this country and their rights.”