2012 Holiday Message From The Commanding General
M. A. Rodriguez, MG, Texas State Guard, Commanding
2012/12/19
Fellow Guardsmen,

As we enter this most joyful time of year, I offer you my deepest thanks for your dedication to the people of Texas and your fellows in the Texas State Guard.

This time of year, the short days, long nights and cool weather seemed designed for reflection and I cannot help but think how blessed I have been by my family. As guardsmen, we are each blessed by a much larger family - those we drill and deploy with. During the holiday season, I think of those other young men and women with whom I entered the Army, and served on posts across the world, and I think of the friends I have made in the Texas State Guard.

A while back, I was talking with one of the Soldiers in the 2nd Regiment. He summed things up better than I ever could have; 'Colonel, even if I just clean up the Armory, that's one less thing those boys downrange have to worry about. I can't carry a rucksack anymore, but I can try to make theirs lighter, and that's what I am here for.

I hope you will join me in thinking of those brave men and women serving far from home this season, trusting that their Creator will extend his protecting hand over them and return them home to their loved ones. Our freedom is purchased and retained by their selfless devotion to duty. They will always have a place at our table and we never forget them - because they are part of our family too.

If your holiday plans include travel, please be safe! If you need help call your chain of command, we are here for you.

I am confident that we will each return to duty following the new year Equal to the Tasks that are set before us. Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah and best wishes for a wonderful new year!

M. A. Rodriguez

MG, Texas State Guard

Commanding

Story by: Spc. Aaron Moreno

Posted: December 13, 2012

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Members of the Texas Army National Guard’s 627th Engineer Heavy Dive Detachment, headquartered in Corpus Christi, Texas, welcomed a new commander during a unique underwater ceremony, Dec. 8.

Capt. Jacob Patterson received the detachment’s guidon and responsibility of the unit from Capt. Terrance Tysall, the outgoing commander. The ceremony was anything but routine as family, friends, and special guests watched the ceremony via an underwater video feed from a remotely operated vehicle. 

“I have many goals coming into this unit,” Patterson said, “but primarily I want to continue the history of diving that they’ve started here in Texas for the military.”

“One of our primary missions is to support civil responders and I want to ensure we have the ability and force packages available successfully support civil authorities,” Patterson said about his new command.

The underwater guidon exchange is a tradition within the detachment that also showcases the unit’s unique capabilities to friends, family, and high ranking officers. The Heavy Dive Unit is one of the Texas Army National Guard’s newest units and outgoing commander Capt. Terrance Tysall joined the unit shortly after its creation.

According to Tysall, his fondest memory as team member and commander was helping to build the team from the ground up and working with talented Soldiers who wanted to take the unit to a higher level of operational capability. 

“I was fortunate enough to be present when the team was growing and becoming a fully realized unit,” Tysall said. “I mean, we became real divers instead of just scuba. We got service supplied, we got our chamber, and we were really accepted by the Army as a larger entity.” 

The unit is composed of scuba and surface supplied divers that can perform underwater tasks, including: demolitions; port construction and rehabilitation; salvage and clearance; and search and reconnaissance missions. 

The unit was organized in 2008, and Patterson the detachment’s third commander. 

“At the end of the day, this ceremony is not about me, but a new chapter in the history of this unit,” Patterson said. “I’m taking over a unit of highly trained Soldiers that are eager to serve and ready to face the challenges ahead. I am excited about the future and confident that we will succeed in our future operations.”

Addicted To Giving
MAJ Michael Quinn Sullivan, PAO, TXSG
2012/12/10

As addictions go, Johnny Gately has a good one: organizing Christmas toy drives.

“The more toys I get, the more toys I want,” said Gately, a sergeant assigned to the Texas State Guard headquarters in Austin. “It’s an addiction, I admit it.”

On Sunday morning, Gately delivered more than 1,300 toys - stuffed animals, board games, videos and more - to Dell Children’s Hospital on behalf of the soldiers of the TXSG.

The toys came from a variety of sources: employees at Securus Technologies, cash donations through the Texas State Guard Association from the Frisco-based Roughriders minor league baseball team, and Gately’s own business, the Drop N Aces poker league.

The toys were delivered unwrapped to Dell Children’s, giving the hospital’s staff greater latitude in how to use and distribute them now and in the months ahead.

Loxy Passmore, a Child Life assistant, said some toys will be used in the hospital’s play rooms, but many more will be given as gifts to the young patients.

Looking over the mounds of stuffed bears, she was clearly looking for - or hoping to see - something in particular.

“We have one little boy here right now who just loves panda bears. I hope there’s a panda in there somewhere.” Moments later, a stuffed panda emerged from the pile. Passmore’s eyes lit up. “This will mean so much,” she said. “All of this.”

Gately was pleased to see the number of toys collected nearly double from last year. In 2011, the TXSG delivered 755 pieces to the hospital. This year’s 1,334 sets an impressive goal for Gately to reach in ’13.

The drive started in earnest in October, but planning begins much sooner. In fact, Gately has already started thinking about next year. Employees at Securus Technologies - a Metroplex-based business - have already volunteered to participate in 2013.

SGT Gately said one selling point for both individuals and business contributors was that the toys were “staying in Texas, for Texas kids.”