I have written about Operation Lone Star here and here. It is an exceedingly stupid mission, generated simply to secure an election. It is fundamentally flawed in so many ways. Chief among its problems is a lack of work for its about 6,500 Guardsmen/women. A close second is the lack of basic equipment. The
Many years ago, when I was a captain in the Texas National Guard, I was involved in a new military unit. It is not often in one’s career that you are involved in “standing up” a brand new unit from scratch. Our RCPOC (Rear CP Operations Cell) had a new paragraph and line number on
The request is a little silly. Gov. Abbott has asked the Texas National Guard to “monitor” the U.S. Army Special Forces as it performs some training at Camp Swift, near Bastrop. The Camp Swift exercise is part of a seven state training exercise for the SF guys. Some folks in Bastrop were concerned. They seem
The fundamental principle of USERRA (Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act) is that a person should not suffer because s/he participates in the National Guard or Reserve duty. I wrote previously about one Reservist, Cpt. Nicole Mitchell, who very likely lost her job as anchor for the Weather Channel due to her Reserve duty. See
One would hope for better from the U.S. Postal Service. They employ many veterans. They have a veterans hiring program. But, in the case of Army Reserve Sergeant Major Richard Erickson, the USPS attempted to terminate his employment even before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan started. SGM Erickson was fired from his USPS job
There are reams of social science on what "discrimination" is. How is it formed? What level of bias rises to the level of "discrimination"? These questions and more abound. We see these questions regarding the hiring of Charley Strong, the first black head football coach at the University of Texas. UT is famous or infamous
In a historic deployment, the Texas National Guard 36th Infantry Division headquarters is deploying to southern Iraq. See San Antonio Express News report. This will be one of the very few times since World War II that a Guard headquarters has commanded active duty troops. The first time since WWII occurred when when the
Employer Support of the Guard/Reserve (ESGR) sends out a DVD to help employers mange their Reserve/Guard employees. Having served some 25 years in the Guard/Reserve, I am very familiar with ESGR. They did well for a Guard colleague some ten years ago. The colleague returned to his civilian job from a US Army school, but