Megan and Pam Cramer were in Killeen, Texas visiting Second Lieutenant Mike Cramer last week. He's stationed at Fort Hood, and the two were helping Mike move into his new home off base.

"We were basically going back in the mall looking for a few more things for the house", said Mike's mother, Pam Cramer.

That's when the atmosphere in the Texas novelty store they were visiting changed.

The Lieutenant's sister, Megan Cramer said, "It was strange, because phones just started going off everywhere, even the store phone and the lady said, 'Shooting?"

They heard rough details of a mass shooting at Fort Hood.

"My first thought was I was worried about my brother and we couldn't get a hold of him", said Megan.

With phone lines down, they tried in vein to call him, but he finally contacted them. "He says, 'okay, there's been a shooting and I'm okay and I can't come home, the fort's locked down'", said Pam.

With no way to communicate to family members back in Central Illinois, Megan turned to a social networking site, one she says was key in keeping her family in the loop.

"I learned from the NIU shooting that phones just weren't practical at the time and I could get a hold of mass numbers of people through Facebook", said Megan.

She and her brother Mike were both college seniors at Northern Illinois University during the February 2008 shootings that claimed the lives of five students- more than a dozen more were injured. "I had a floor mate from when I was a freshman who was shot", said Megan.

Megan also used social networking that day to get word to her mother in Edwards that she and her brother were okay.

Pam says she feels fortunate she was able to be there for her children through both tragedies. "With both kids, oh yeah. Going through the NIU incident, it basically happened on a Thursday, I was there on Friday".

Megan says she's fortunate her family escaped misfortune twice, and can only hope that trouble doesn't find them again in the future.