Greg Abbott's Operation Lone Star has been a bust and is hurting Texas Naitonal Guardsmen

[LetMyPeopleVote]

In order to fight off primary challenges from some RWNJs who are to his right (Allen West and Don Huffines), Greg called up and stationed a good number of Texas National Guard personnel to go to the border and do nothing https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2022/02/01/haste-and-planning-failures-doomed-operation-lone-stars-troops-to-suffer/

Faced with a humanitarian crisis along the Rio Grande, pressured by conservative rivals and chided by right-wing cable pundits, Gov. Greg Abbott decided last fall to move thousands of troops to the border as quickly as possible. And the Texas Military Department, which oversees the state’s National and State Guard branches, did all it could to comply — with haste.

Never before has Texas — or any other state — involuntarily activated so many troops under state active duty authority for such a long-term mission. Nor has it been done so quickly.....

During a two-month period beginning in September, Operation Lone Star ballooned from a lean 1,000-volunteer outfit to a mandatory mobilization of up to 10,000 members of the Texas Military Department. According to a senior Guard leader’s leaked comments during a virtual town hall for unit leaders, they’re expecting the current wave of troops to be there for a year, and they’re preparing for yet another wave of deployments......

The National Guard is primarily staffed by part-time troops who have civilian jobs, lives and families. Sometimes they’re called to full-time duty by the federal government. Those deployments are often yearlong missions, but Guardsmen are alerted months ahead of time so they can get their affairs in order — and troops alerted less than 120 days prior to deployment usually can’t be forced to go.

This was a political stunt by Greg because he is in a primary

The deployment came at a politically fraught moment for a governor whose popularity was sagging as he took fire over his handling of two crises — the COVID-19 pandemic and a February 2021 winter storm that caused the state’s power grid to collapse, leaving millions without electricity or heat for days.

In May, Abbott faced his first major challenge from his right flank after former state Sen. Don Huffines of Dallas, a millionaire with money to spend, announced his entry in the 2022 gubernatorial primary. Two months later, Huffines was joined by Allen West, the former U.S. representative from Florida and chair of the Republican Party of Texas. Both blasted Abbott for failing to secure the border.

This article has some disturbing facts including that there were no kitchens set up initially and guardsmen had to go to restaurants to be fed. In addition, there were no toilet facilities and so guardsmen either had to use bushes or be taken to filing stations.

Greg has been using these guardsmen as a political tool because he is facing a real primary challenge and will be facing a real candidate in the general election. Beto has been discussing the poor treatment of these guardsmen and this will be an issue in the general election

[Budi]

1. K & R & Thank You Beto

"Beto has been discussing the poor treatment of these guardsmen and this will be an issue in the general election"

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Texans and our National Guard members deserve better

Link to tweet