TEXAS STATE GUARD WINS RIFLE COMPETITION… AGAIN!
CPT Esperanza Meza, PAO, TXSG
2012/03/29
AUSTIN, Texas – For the second time in the last two years, the Texas State Guard’s 19th Regiment Marksmanship Team has won top honors in this year’s 2012 Adjutant’s General’s Combat Rifle Competition Match and Sustainment Exercise held at Camp Swift. This is the second competition won this year, with part of the same winning team for the Combat Pistol Match held earlier this year.

The Rifle Team included CPT Theodore Baroody, Quick Response Team Commander and Officer in Charge of the team, SGT Scott Hunt, 19th REGT HQ, SGT Sean Mounger, 1st Battalion, and SGT Wade Lay, 19th REGT HQ. Of the eight Governor’s 20 tabs for the Rifle Competition in 2012, four went to the State Guard. SGT Hunt was awarded one of the coveted tabs that included the Pistol Competition earlier along with SGT Mounger.

For the past two years, 19th Regiment’s rifle and pistol team has dominated the Adjutant General’s rifle and pistol competitions winning both events, a feat not held by the same unit since the start of the Texas State Guard’s initial entry into the events in 2008.

Approximately 100 competitors from the Texas National Guard, Texas Air Guard and Texas State Guard participated in the event held February 25 and 26 at Camp Swift, a training facility near Bastrop.

COL David Erinakes, Commander of the 19th Regiment, congratulated his soldiers on their performance.

“This win showed the drive and determination of their team that represents the same drive and determination the entire State Guard brings to the table for the citizens of Texas.“

CPT Baroody, the team’s OIC, added “The 19th Regt Marksmanship Team purchased their own ammo and rifles for the competition, and practiced on their own time.“

The competition was organized by the State Competitive Marksmanship (SCM) Program in the Texas National Guard. The SCM is managed by the State Competitive Marksmanship Coordinator, MAJ John Suprynowicz.

 Story by: Sgt. Josiah Pugh
 
 Posted: March 28, 2012
 

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Instructors from the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture of Texas A&M University trained 12 soldiers from the Texas National Guard Agribusiness Development Team Six to better prepare them for their upcoming deployment to the Ghazni province of Afghanistan later this year.

The team is comprised of troops specializing in agricultural fields such as animal, soil, irrigation and crop sciences. During the weeklong training, the Borlaug Institute instructors taught the soldiers how to manage future agricultural projects that will benefit the Afghan people. 

“You have an agricultural society that lives off of subsistence agriculture,” said Lt. Col. Jet Hays, commander of the Agribusiness Development Team Six.

Hays explained that at one time, the Afghan people had very complicated irrigation systems that were well engineered and had existed for thousands of years. They also had a very sophisticated way to move agricultural goods around. But with the Russian invasion in 1979, many of the farmers ended up in refugee camps in Pakistan. By the time the war was over, much of the knowledge about advanced agricultural practices was lost. 

“Basically you had a generation that forgot their techniques for storing food and farming methods,” said Hays. “We’ll be trying to help them regain some of that knowledge.”

“One of our projects we will be teaching them is how to preserve their food,” said Staff Sgt. Melissa Bright, an agriculture specialist with the team. “They currently sell 90 percent of their production to Pakistan and then rebuy it a couple of months later because they don’t remember how to can their goods.” 

With the help of the Borlaug Institute instructors, the team will be able to successfully accomplish their mission of improving the agricultural prosperity of the Ghazni province. But, the benefit of working together extends in both directions.

“They have be so wonderful and they are so diligent,” said Piya Abeygunawardena, Associate Director at the Borlaug Institute. “It has been one of the most pleasant and exciting experiences for me.”

“We have several individuals flown here just to talk with us,” said Bright. “The experience is amazing.”

Agribusiness Development Team Six is scheduled to depart this summer.