Story by A1C Laura Weaver, Texas Air National Guard

NAVAL AIR STATION JOINT RESERVE BASE FORT WORTH, Texas - Chief Master Sgt. Michael Cornitius, Texas Military Department Command Senior Enlisted Leader, visited 136th Airlift Wing, Texas Air National Guard Airmen Nov. 14-15, 2020.

During his visit, he met and engaged with Citizen Airmen directly about their role in the Air National Guard, listened to their feedback, and shared state leadership’s appreciation for their efforts. 

“The main goal for me is getting an opportunity to have that touchpoint with the wing, being able to really talk to the Airmen and understand how we can support them better in the decisions that we make,” said Cornitius.

Cornitius assists the Adjutant General in assuring the readiness, training and development of more than 19,000 enlisted Army and Air personnel in the Texas Guard and State Guard.

At the 136th, the chief visited with multiple units and attended a variety of meetings with junior and senior enlisted members where he recognized and coined standout Airmen for their exceptional performance.

“Texas has the largest and the best guard force in the nation,” said Cornitius. “We want to do more, we want to give more, and we want to help more. For us as an organization, and in particular at the 136th, we want to provide more opportunities for the wing to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to do the job that they want to do and that they’re happy with doing it.”

Cornitius says that by interfacing with Citizen Airmen in the field, he is able to verbalize state initiatives and provide a different perspective to help them understand how their roles support the force as a whole.

“Everyone at the 136th is doing a great job,” said Cornitius. “Keep doing what you’re doing. Continue to lead. Continue to think about tomorrow. Set your long-term goals, and then work toward them through your short-terms goals which will help you in your career.”

Cornitius originally hails from Galveston, Texas, and is in his 33rd year of military service.

By: Andrew Smith, TMD Public Affairs

AUSTIN, TX -- Representatives from several government agencies and four drone companies gathered for a drone demonstration on September 15th, 2020 at Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas.

In recent years, drones have become popular as a low cost and low maintenance alternative for many missions which would have required manned aircraft. The ease of use brought by drones came with some security concerns as well, since many of these drones were built in China. The foreign nature of these drones does not comply with Federal Trade Commission government procurement practices that require half of the components of a drone purchased by the government be made in the United States.

In addition, the mapping capabilities and remote nature of the drones aroused security concerns. Due to these concerns, drone manufactures are now developing drones that are built in the United States using domestic components.

The Texas Military Department hosted the event to facilitate acquisitions of drones built to U.S. government standards in coordination with the Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit. Using video conferencing, representatives from the developers explained the specifications of their company’s drones. Working drones were also flown in a series of short demos, and some prospective buyers even took the controls.

“This event is a great opportunity to take look at all the different systems made by US-based companies that are now approved by the secretary of defense and can be deployed in real-world missions without a waiver,” said Maj. Alexander Goldberg. Maj. Goldberg serves as the director for TMDX, Texas Military Department’s innovation unit, which organized the event. “The problem we were trying to solve, was that in any of our natural disasters our Texas Guardsmen are on the front line, whether it is COVID, or fires, floods and anything in between. To be able to take these small unmanned aircraft systems that are much cheaper than helicopters and actually have high-resolution cameras to do search and rescue on the front lines is a game-changer. And to have our first responders and agency partners here to get feedback and collaborate.” 

At the conclusion of this event the attendees will analyze what is most effective and mission-capable for all parties involved. Agencies will then award innovation research contracts to the individual companies, so these projects can eventually be scaled into DOD-wide programs of record.

“We are looking for technologies that can real-time data back to leaders so they can make decisions,” said Capt. Meredith Zinni, intelligence officer assigned to the Texas Air National Guard. “We need to be able to make decisions ins real-time, we are fighting lag time of hours of things happening in the field, and when decision-makers are seeing the information."

While contracts have yet to be awarded to the companies building the drones, the ability of the Texas Military Department to facilitate this even in the midst of COVID restrictions is a testament to the Guard’s ability to adapt and overcome in a variety of complex environments.