TEMPLE, Texas -- At this sprawling medical complex about 30 minutes from Fort Hood, the line of people waiting to give blood started early Friday morning.

The two dozen or so people at the Scott and White Memorial Hospital Blood Center were seeking some way to help.

``I just feel like it's the least we can do,'' said Heather Carter, 27. ``This is our home.''

She lives in nearby Killeen, home of Fort Hood.

``We see things happen like this all the time on the news, but when it happens at home, you don't believe it,'' she said, adding she and friends had been glued to the TV since the news hit. ``That's the one place you'd think you'd be safe.''

The shooting Thursday left 13 people dead and 30 people, including the suspected shooter, injured.

Authorities say Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, opened fire in the Soldier Readiness Center about 1:30 p.m.

The blood center in Temple was flooded with people trying to give blood Thursday. The line was cut off at 6 p.m., but so many people were already in place it was near midnight when everyone had funneled through.

They started coming again at the 8 a.m. open on Friday.

``It's surreal. Both my grandfather and father fought in wars,'' said Barbara Dominguez, 35, who works at the hospital. ``It makes you think about all they've sacrificed for us. Giving blood is just a small token to give back.''

Retired Army Lt. Col. Dan Pasch spent the last year of his 33-year Army career working in the processing center, where Thursday's shooting unfolded.

``The terror and the sadness, I can only imagine,'' said Pasch, who spent Thursday trying to get in touch with the soldiers who worked for him.

``You see soldiers came to the aid of other soldiers immediately,'' he said. ``They didn't run from it, and they helped each other out.''

The center was supposed to be a place for soldiers to relax with family, a place of solace before being shipped out.

``I can't imagine what those women and young soldiers will have to do Monday or Tuesday,'' he said. ``You can't come back to that building. You have to go someplace else. There's hundreds and hundreds of families that are now affected. They'll have to relocate everything in that building.''

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