Hasan may be former Barstow college student

A man named Nidal Malik Hasan attended Barstow Community College 20 years ago where he made the dean's list and claimed to have been an enlisted soldier stationed at nearby Fort Irwin, Calif., his academic records show.

But whether he is the same 39-year-old Army major who authorities say gunned down 12 soldiers and a civilian Thursday at Fort Hood, Texas, is unclear.

Fort Irwin officials say they don't have a record of him being at the California fort 40 miles from Barstow where U.S. soldiers receive final training in counterinsurgency operations. The Army post is located 165 miles southwest of Las Vegas.

"We show him entering the Army in 1995, going to Walter Reed and then going to Fort Hood, Texas. We don't ever have him as enlisted," said John Wagstaffe, Fort Irwin's public affairs director.

Nevertheless, Barstow Community College spokeswoman Maureen Stokes says Hasan's college transcript shows he attended classes for a year, from the spring of 1989 to the spring of 1990. He earned 19 credit hours in addition to 10 for his military experience.

Stokes said Hasan's records indicate that he was an enlisted soldier stationed at Fort Irwin with the rank of E-3, a private first class, or below.

His major was undeclared and he transferred a combined 29 credits to another institution to further his degree, she said.

Army officials have said Hasan graduated from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., in 1997 and holds a doctorate in psychiatry from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. He served as an officer for five years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center before his transfer to Fort Hood.

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.