On Assignment w/ CT

Col. Lee Henry, Commander of the 56th IBCT, 36th ID, Texas Army National Guard calls today's Guardsmen and women the "new greatest generation".  He told me that they show a deep level of committment and are signing up for the Guard and staying in. Col. Henry says the success of the Texas Army National Guard...is made up of what he calls a 3-legged stool. 

The first leg is retention; maintaing a great relationship with the employer of each soldier is critical.  Once deployment ends, the Guard wants to make sure that the soldier has a job to go back to when they come home. The relationship that the Guard establishes with that employer is essential; making sure the employer understands why being a member of the Guard is important and letting them know how much they appreciate holding the job open while the Guard soldier is away.

The second leg is the homefront.  The Family Readiness Group supports the families  while the soldier is deployed. That's vitally important.  When the soldier knows that his or her family is taken care of they can better focus on the mission.  Col. Henry says that support could be financial or  finding a resource to fix a broken water heater... the Colonel says this kind of family support definately takes stress off of the soldier. 

The third leg of the stool is training. The Texas Army National Guard again says the employer relationship is important because they need to understand why the Guard needs to be away to train before being deployed. The Colonel says  the Texas Army National Guard must master 34 core Army warrior tactics and 11 battle drills. He credits Texans with being a focused group of soldiers. He says the Guard has the "latest and greatest in weapons, training and technology."

They train at Fort Polk, in Lousiana and we've posted lots of pictures to show you what  the Texas Army National Guard goes through. You can see the Photo Gallery  by doing a keyword search: Texas National Guard Or follow the link below: 

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/ContentDetail?
contentId=7029880

The Texas Army National Guard will be in Iraq for it's 3rd deployment by November.  The mission of the almost 36-hundred men and women; convoy security, command post operations, force protection and visitor bureau responsibilities.