CAMP MABRY, Texas – Retired Maj. Gen. Eddy M. Spurgin, the former commanding general of the Texas Army National  Guard’s 36th Infantry Division, headquartered here, became the new chairman of the Texas ESGR Committee in Austin,  last month.

 After graduating from Texas A&M University, Spurgin spent more than 30 years as a citizen-soldier in the Texas Army  National Guard, including service in Iraq. He is currently the District Conservationist for the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

 Spurgin replaced retired Maj. Gen. Jerry D. Icenhower, who served as Texas ESGR chairman from 2006-2012, and said he  will take over where Icenhower left off.

 “I want to continue to foster good communication and interface with national headquarters,” said Spurgin, and will help  “move the ball forward with the ESGR mission here in Texas.”

Having been a career guardsman, Spurgin said he understands the unique challenges that arise from service in the military’s reserve components. “I want to be a strong advocate for our employers and our service members,” he said.

The Texas ESGR Committee is the state-level affiliate of the national Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a Department of Defense agency, said John Steele, the program support technician for Texas ESGR. The organization was created in 1972 to increase cooperation and understanding between guardsmen and reservists and their civilian employers, and to help resolve conflicts that arise between the private company’s operations and the employee’s military service.

“ESGR is not a law enforcement agency, but serves as a neutral resource for employers and service members,” said Steele. “The Ombudsman Services Program provides trained mediators to help resolve employment disputes.”

As an organization, ESGR provides outreach to employers and service members, Steele said, including training and materials (at no direct cost) on their rights and responsibilities under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, or USERRA, which is a federal law that provides employment protections for individuals who choose, voluntarily or involuntarily, to service in the uniformed services.

Additionally, ESGR works with companies to help integrate unemployed National Guard and Reserve service members into the workforce, Steele said, including the “Hero 2 Hired” program (www.h2h.jobs), and will recognize outstanding employers through several annual awards issued by the Department of Defense.

The Texas ESGR Committee has about 230 volunteers and full-time staff members throughout the state to build bridges in the community, Spurgin said.

“ESGR is out there, side-by-side with these partners,” Spurgin said. “I’ll provide whatever leadership I can to continue the success of the program here in Texas.”

For more information:
Internet - http://www.esgr.mil/Contact/Local-State-Pages/Texas.aspx
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TXESGR
Twitter - https://twitter.com/TX_ESGR

 “The young men and women of this generation have been asked to perform on battlefields in Iraq, and Afghanistan,  standing up against the forces of terror at home and abroad,” Perry said. “Without their willingness to give their all, if  required, America would be nothing but a sad footnote in history, a place that held great promise, once upon a time.”

 Staff Sgt. Patrick D. Rogers, Jr., of Galveston, Texas, a flight medic assigned to the Texas Army National Guard’s Austin-  based 36th Combat Aviation Brigade, received the citations from Perry, on behalf of the U.S. Army, for his actions this past  June and July while he was assigned to the U.S. Army’s Task Force Wolfpack, a subcomponent of the 4th Platoon at  Forward Operating Base Salerno in the province of Khowst, in southeastern Afghanistan, which is near the country’s border  with Pakistan.

 “Today, we are honoring a particularly brave individual,” Perry said. “Staff Sgt. Patrick Rogers not only served his country in  Iraq and Afghanistan, he also served as medic, which means he didn’t really get involved until things had gone really bad.”

 After sustaining injuries during an attack that damaged FOB Salerno’s dining facility in June, Rogers is credited with  rescuing several soldiers and a local national from the building and then setting up a triage station to evaluate and initiate  treatment for additional injured personnel.

“It wasn’t until he was ordered to stop tending to the wounded that he finally relented and allowed other medics to take care of his own injuries,” said Perry.

Then, in July, Rogers was involved in an aerial rescue operation near FOB Salerno while being exposed to gunfire from enemy combatants, according to Capt. Joshua C. Aronson, the aeromedical evacuation officer for Task Force Wolfpack, who wrote the recommendation for Rogers to receive the Air Medal with “V” Device. Rogers was lowered by a hoist and a steel cable from inside a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter and helped with the extraction of two soldiers from a narrow ledge on a mountainside.

For his actions under fire, Rogers was also presented the Combat Medical Badge, which is conferred upon military medical personnel that face combat conditions. The badge was first awarded to American combat medics during World War II.

Perry said he was humbled and privileged to present Rogers with the awards.

The feeling between the Governor and the Citizen-Soldier appeared to be mutual.

“It was definitely an honor,” Rogers said of receiving his awards from the state's chief executive, “this is something I will never forget.”

Rogers said he has to undergo further physical therapy and treatments for his combat injuries, but that he will soon head back to Galveston to continue life, go back to work and raise his children.

“Everything after combat is great,” Rogers said. “Everything else is easy."