The absentee state representatives, all guests of III Corps Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, made their first trip en mass to the “Great Place” in more than six years.

Lawmakers were treated to lunch at Club Hood, but not before Lynch spoke a few words of encouragement and solicited support for a number of projects he outlined as vitally needed on Fort Hood in his Capital Campaign.

Lynch unveiled his plan in October, which outlined his goals of providing more adequate housing for the troops, as well as construction of a top-notch mental health facility to help soldiers returning from war cope with the issues of posttraumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury - trademark injuries of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Lynch said that so far, more than 500 Fort Hood soldiers have been diagnosed with PTSD or TBI and are in dire need of a facility that can treat them.

“We need help, and I know you want to help,” Lynch said. “You might not be able to fix it in the Texas State Legislature, but you know somebody who can.”

Lynch also hopes to find the funding to pour the foundation on a brand new Army Medical Center to replace the 44-year-old Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center.

“You can’t survive in this military without a concerned, caring and compassionate community. You can’t,” Lynch said. “You need access to resources . . . to realize our vision, we need resources, and vision without resources is an hallucination.”

The projects Lynch hopes to have accomplished or in the works by 2011 will require millions in federal funding, and that may be the hardest part.

Of course, getting the state representatives - many of whom had never set foot on a military post - to Fort Hood was the easiest part of the day. Many of them left residences to board a bus at the state Capitol before the sun had even risen, and all of them came at the invitation of state Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, and state Rep. Ralph Sheffield, R-Temple.

Both men joined Lynch at the podium to talk about the vision they share with Lynch for Fort Hood.

“Thank you so much for opening your doors to my legislative friends,” Sheffield said. “Fort Hood puts $10.9 billion back into the state’s economy and we have to pay attention to what goes on here.”

Aycock, who echoed many of Sheffield’s comments, said Fort Hood held a special place in the hearts of many who came to visit the post.

“We agonize with you when you go to war and we celebrate with you when you come back,” he said. “We appreciate the work that you do.”

Lawmakers boarded buses and eventually found themselves strapped into the jump seats of four UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters that flew them to an area of Fort Hood known as Phantom Run.

From the air, the row of tiny buildings looked like they could be anyplace, but when the Black Hawks landed, spraying dust and rock in every direction, the lawmakers stared in disbelief.

It could have been Basra, Balad or Tikrit instead of a training village, commonly referred to in military terms as a MOUT site.

Tyler Broadway, a retired Army NCO who now serves on the III Corps public affair staff, said the village was realistic.

“When I walked through there, I got goose bumps. I thought I was there,” Broadway said.

On the outskirts of the mock village, signs in Arabic were surrounded by the shell of burned-out shelters and a car or two that had been demolished.

The village itself was populated by former Iraqi citizens and American defense contractors who role-play to train soldiers deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan.

The lawmakers stood on a hilltop watching Kevin Burrell, a civilian who works closely with the III Corps G-3 to train soldiers in IED avoidance.

Burrell, dressed in traditional Arab garb, outstretched his arms to reveal the makings of an explosive vest strapped on his body - behind him were piles of what IEDs might look like to soldiers, along with various other booby traps they are most likely to encounter.

In the background, a loudspeaker blared music that was interrupted by the call for prayer.

The call sent the mock players scrambling to shelters as soldiers of the 720th Military Police Battalion raised their weapons in anticipation of attack.

Lawmakers watched as a white pickup truck drove slowly to the soldiers’ checkpoint and stopped.

The soldiers pointed their weapons at the driver and ordered him out.

The driver yelled back at them in Arabic, then gunned his pickup toward the soldiers.

The lawmakers watched as the soldiers fired their weapons at the pickup, which instantly erupted into a fireball.

In retaliation, terrorists fired rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 machine guns at the soldiers and at their barricaded headquarters.

In seconds, the mock battle was finished.

Afterward, lawmakers were able to talk with the soldiers and role players who populated the village before boarding their helicopters for their next stop.

State Rep. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, stopped and spoke with Dr. Therma Al Nasry before moving on to talk with Fort Hood soldiers.

Alvarado described her experience at Fort Hood as eye-opening.

“This helps the people understand what the troops have to go through,” she said. “This is an effective way to see what our soldiers do and what conditions they have to live in. It gives you a deeper appreciation for the men and women who are protecting our freedom.”