Soldier, county resident killed in Texas terrorist attack honored

A soldier and clinical psychologist who practiced in Prince William County killed during a terrorist attack in Texas were honored on Friday in Woodbridge.

Major L. Eduardo Caraveo was preparing for a deployment to Afghanistan when he was killed in the November 2009 terrorist attack at Fort Hood which took the lives of himself and 12 others.

Caraveo’s family joined members of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Friday at the county’s War Memorial, located on the grounds of the county government center at 1 County Complex in Woodbridge.

As a resident of Woodbridge, several constituents, in addition to a local VFW Post and the Dale City Purple Heart Chapter reached out to Coles District Supervisor Yesli Vega upon taking office to have Major Caraveo’s name added to the county War Memorial for having given his life in service to our country.

Vega, with the assistance of her colleagues and the county, spearheaded the effort to add county residents who were active-duty military members and killed “in the line of duty as a result of international or domestic terrorism.

Major Caraveo worked in private practice until he felt the call to serve his nation and entered the Army Reserves in March of 1999 at the age of 42.

• In November of 2009, he was preparing for his first overseas deployment to help soldiers deal with the stresses of war when he was tragically killed along with 13 other service members during the terrorist attack at the Fort Hood Army Base in Texas.
• He was subsequently awarded The Purple Heart Medal and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Major Caraveo’s humble beginnings in Juarez gave him an appreciation for people and the ability to look at obstacles as a challenge to grow and do better. He believed in education and that hard work always pays off.

• He believed that everyone has the ability to break through boundaries.
• He worked for the Federal Bureau of Prisons for over 15 years.
• Work took him to many places including Arizona, Pennsylvania, California, and the Northern Virginia / DC Metro area, where he lived and had a private practice as a clinical psychologist right here in Prince William County.

Caraveo was born on January 14, 1957 in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Growing up in Juarez, he moved to El Paso Texas as a teenager, knowing very little English. Despite this, he graduated from The University of Texas at El Paso with a Bachelor of Science in 1979 and a Masters in Education in 1980.

• He also earned a Masters in Psychology from Texas Tech University, a Doctoral Degree in Psychology from The University of Arizona, and completed a Post Doctorate M.S. in Clinical Psychopharmacology at New Mexico State University. He was the first in his family to earn a college degree.