FORT HOOD, Texas – The city of Killeen and Fort Hood, the military base, are almost interchangeable. Everyone who lives in the community of Killeen has something to do with the military. So shooting rampage that left at 13 dead and 30 wounded has impacted not just the military installation, but an entire Texas community.

Flags are flying at half staff here today. There is a very somber mood in town. And people are on heightened alert. Even at the hotel where we are all staying, they were taking extra security precautions. There is a heightened sense of fear in the community now.

The irony of what's going on here is that these people who live here prepare themselves to hear about casualties that might happen to friends and loved ones overseas. But no one ever expected anything like this – deaths and bloodshed in their own community, in their own neighborhood.

VIDEO: Fort Hood community in mourning

"You just don't think that these things are even possible. You know we walk around with a blanket of security knowing that our soldiers are out there fighting for our country and then something like this happens. It's ridiculous," said Adrianna Peebles, a Killeen resident and wife of a soldier.

Everyone seems to know someone connected to the base here. In the pharmacy yesterday, the checkout person knew a soldier and knew he was about to be deployed and worried about whether or not he was OK.

"You are supposed to worry about them when they are deployed, not when they are here at home," one woman said to me.

Now it's the soldiers who are in Iraq and Afghanistan who are calling Texas to check on someone's safety. It's a complete reversal of what people here are used to.