Texas State Guard Leadership Visits Operation Lone Star
Staff Sgt. Phil Fountain, 149th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
2011/07/29
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Maj. Gen. John Nichols, Texas’ Adjutant General, tours an Operation Lone Star Medical Point of Dispensing (MPOD) site with Ms. Chelsea Buchholtz, military liaison from the Office of the Governor, and Maj. Gen. Raymond Peters (right), commanding general of the Texas State Guard, at Pharr-San Juan-Alamo High School in the Rio Grande Valley on July 28, 2011.Photo by Staff Sgt. Phil Fountain, TXANG
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Maj. Gen. Raymond Peters, Commanding General of the Texas State Guard, listens to Maj. Gen. John Nichols, Texas’ Adjutant General, address an audience at Pharr-San Juan-Alamo High School as a part of Operation Lone Star in the South Texas Rio Grande Valley on July 28, 2011.Photo by Staff Sgt. Eric L. Wilson, TXANG
SAN JUAN, Texas (July 28, 2011) – Maj. Gen. Raymond Peters and Brig. Gen. Charles Miller, Commanding General and Chief of Staff of the Texas State Guard, respectively, joined Maj. Gen. John Nichols, Texas’ Adjutant General, for a tour of Operation Lone Star Medical Point of Dispensing (MPOD) site at Pharr-San Juan-Alamo High School in the Rio Grande Valley, today.
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) leads the jointly operated event with the Texas State Guard, as well as other public health agencies.
For the 13th consecutive year, Operation Lone Star provides the state of Texas a unique inter-agency training environment to prepare for disaster relief and emergency management. Additionally, the effort provides medical care to a historically underserved population in the state with no direct cost to the patient.
Texas State Guard assets deployed for Operation Lone Star include physicians, nurses, other medical providers, and medics, as well as security, chaplains, attorneys, and public affairs.
During the previous Operation Lone Star in 2010, services were provided to 12,000 border area residents, and over 100,000 have been cared for during the program’s 12-year history.
During the visit, Maj. Gen. Nichols said, “We’re practicing what we’re designed to do, with all of our inter-agency partners,” and that Operation Lone Star is “an opportunity for us to join together and give something back to Texas.”