For former Danielson couple, some tense moments

The text message from her husband said a building on the base had been "shot up" and he was in hiding.

At 1:54 p.m. Thursday, Alyssa Seace replied, "Oh my God, can you come home?"

Army Pfc. Ray Seace Jr., 19, is stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, where 12 soldiers and a civilian were killed and 30 people wounded when Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly went on a shooting rampage on the base Thursday.

Alyssa, 18, and Ray were high school sweethearts who graduated from Killingly High School last year. They married in July and moved from Danielson to Texas.

"He's my best friend," Alyssa Seace said Friday in a phone interview from her apartment, five minutes from the Texas Army base.

On Thursday, Ray Seace did not respond to his wife's frantic text message until 2:40 p.m.

"Three guys from my unit were just hit," he wrote. "Twelve are dead, one shooter is dead."

He added that another shooter was "running around post," a rumor that was later disproved. Authorities ultimately said just one person was responsible for the shootings, and he was wounded and taken into custody.

"Oh my God, let me know if you're okay," Alyssa Seace replied.

She would not hear from her husband for another two hours. Meanwhile, she called her father, Greg Best, in Danielson, who warned her not to text or call her husband again, fearing the ringing phone would reveal Seace's hideout.

Ray Seace was in the garage where he works as an Army mechanic, a block away from the Soldier Family Readiness Center where the shootings occurred. At 4:30 p.m., he called to let his wife know that he was OK.

"I was so relieved," Alyssa Seace said. "I'm just glad it's over. I feel so bad about those other people. They did not deserve that. I can't believe on the biggest Army base that stuff like this is happening. It's supposed to be safe."

Even though her husband returned home around 9 p.m. Thursday, Alyssa Seace did not fall asleep until 8 a.m. Friday. She thought Ray would be in danger after he deploys to Iraq in February, not now.

"I was still nervous, even though he was just right there by me," she said. "It had that much of an impact."

Like Alyssa Seace, John Michalak of Ledyard and Sheri Fisher-Taylor of New London were anxiously waiting for calls from their loved ones Thursday.

Michalak's oldest son, Brandyn, is stationed at Fort Hood. Fisher-Taylor's sister, Audra Fisher-Meza, serves at a nearby base but lives close to Fort Hood because her husband retired from the Army and now works at the base as a civilian.

Brandyn Michalak, 21, accidentally left his cell phone at home Thursday and he was told to stand duty as a guard after the shooting.

"He couldn't even let his wife know he was OK," his father said Friday. He did not learn that his son was safe until Thursday night. "I just sat by the phone and waited and hoped I didn't get any other phone calls," he said.

The elder Michalak, who was stationed at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton while in the Navy, said he was not surprised that violence could occur at a military installation.

"In today's day and age, you can never be too careful and never say never," he said. "Anything can happen anywhere."

Fisher-Taylor saw a news alert about Fort Hood on her cell phone while she was at work at a call center for a florist Thursday afternoon. Her sister had just returned from a deployment to Iraq and her sister's husband was at Fort Hood.

"I started praying and I texted my sister to ask if everything was OK," she said Friday.

Fisher-Taylor had to wait for her next break from work to check her phone again. At 8:30 p.m., she called her sister, who was at home with her husband.

"We're happy our family arrived home safely but I'm still praying for the other families going through this," she said.

Members of the Connecticut National Guard train at Fort Hood prior to deploying overseas but none are there currently, according to the Guard. Gov. M. Jodi Rell ordered flags in the state to be flown at half mast until Tuesday in memory of the victims at Fort Hood.

At the Norwich Catholic Diocese's annual Red, White and Blue Mass on Sunday, religious leaders will lead a prayer for the victims and their families. The Mass, which is held to honor members of the armed services, will take place at the Cathedral of Saint Patrick, 213 Broadway, at 10:15 a.m.

j.grogan@theday.com