CAMP ROBINSON, Ark. – Four members of the Texas Army National Guard won the 52nd Annual Winston P. Wilson Championship, April 29- May 5, 2023, in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The National Guard hosts the Winston P. Wilson Championship annually to promote marksmanship training. This competition offers National Guardsmen an opportunity to test marksmanship skills and weapon systems in a battle-focused environment.

“Marksmanship is the quintessential skill of a Soldier,” said U.S. Army Col. Kevin Crawford, 176th Engineer Brigade commander. “Having Soldiers of this caliber is a force multiplier to having trained, mission-ready forces. The outcome was fantastic, allowing their world-class performance to take the competition.”

These Soldiers are dedicated to excellence and spend countless hours of their own time mastering their individually assigned weapons, Crawford added.

The Texas Army National Guard team, known as the Texas Alpha Team, was comprised of Sgt. 1st Class Charles Stevener, Sgt. 1st Class Stephen Duron, both from 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment, 1st Lt. Samuel Slichter of 386th Engineer Battalion, 176th Engineer Brigade, and Capt. Ross Buntyn of 111st Engineer Battalion, 136th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade. Buntyn served as team captain of the Texas Alpha Team.

Texas Alpha Team took home team awards from the competition including High Overall Team Aggregate and High Overall Rifle Team Aggregate, and numerous individual awards including 1st Place Overall Novice, 1st Place Rifle Novice, 3rd Place Rifle Novice, and 3rd Place Pistol Novice.

“The team was successful due to our consistency –this consistency--regardless of weather conditions, fatigue, time of day, or match format led to our success,” said Slichter. “As a team, we consistently placed around the top 10 and as individuals placed in the top quarter.”

Our consistency is rooted in a firm grasp of the fundamentals of marksmanship, added Slichter.

Established in September of 1971 by Major General Winston P. Wilson, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, the first rifle and pistol championships took place at Camp Robinson, Ark.
 
In 2007, the competition was revamped, and new courses of fire were implemented to enhance combat survivability and evaluate the capability of Service Members (SMs) to effectively employ their service weapons.

While basic marksmanship techniques are still an integral part of the competition, a particular emphasis has been put on combat realism, physical exertion and close individual and team coordination.

The Texas Alpha Team competed in 29 different marksmanship challenges during both the day and night, utilizing their M4A1 carbine and M17 service weapons.

The challenges included individual and team events, ranging from close-quarter battle scenarios to long-distance shooting.

The weeklong competition was grueling. The team navigated strong winds, harsh sunlight, exhaustion, and a variety of shooting formats.

“Each member was encouraging and did not allow any setbacks to negatively affect each other's performance,” said Buntyn. “As a team, we meshed very well and played off of each other’s strengths. We did our best to take learning points from each match, maintain a professional attitude, and remained emotionally detached from the outcome, which allowed us to perform consistently.”

This year, 57 four-SM teams representing 43 states and territories participated in the competition. In the end, the Texas Alpha Team was left standing at the top.

“I am very proud of the performance of the Texas Alpha team,” said Buntyn. “The competition at the 2023 WPW was very tough and overall scores were much higher when compared to previous years. It was clear that each state sent their best available competitors.”

The support for this team was instrumental to its success.

The unseen professionals who supported the team made significant contributions in the form of initial planning, WARNO/OPORDs, administration, budgeting, meals, ammunition, range control, logisticians, range support personnel, weapons, and most importantly the support of commanders and families of the participants.

“I must thank Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael Brown for his support as well as each unit of the members of the team,” said Buntyn. “Without their support, we would not have been able to prepare for and compete in the competition.”

The support the team received enabled the Texas Alpha Team to train without distraction or burden.

“Congratulations to Texas Alpha Team and thank you to the Adjutant General and Texas Military Department for your trust and support of the competitive marksmanship program,” said Brown, team organizer. “The state-level matches start again in January. Texas will need new marksmen that can ‘Come and Take It’.”

As champion marksmen and leaders, Texas Alpha Team will inevitably disperse back to the ranks in positions of increased responsibility and enhance proficiency and lethality of individually assigned weapons, Brown added.

“2023 Winston P. Wilson (WPW) Texas Alpha Team win is truly a Team Texas win,” said Crawford. “Texas Alpha Team is comprised of four carefully selected, high functioning marksmen whose shots inside the “X” ring at WPW will have lasting impacts on marksmanship within the Texas Army National Guard.”

LAREDO, Texas-- Texas National Guard Soldiers stopped illegal immigrants from wading across the Rio Grande River, and directed them back to Mexico, May 22, 2023. Soldiers worked with their law enforcement partners, the Department of Public Safety brush teams, and responded to a sensor that alerted them of illegal aliens trying to gain access to Texas.

Texas Soldiers were able to stop the illegal aliens before they entered the United States. After being stopped the would-be crossers were directed by helicopters back to Mexico.

Operation Lone Star has Texas National Guard soldiers working with DPS Troopers to prevent, deter, and interdict transnational illegal activity in their areas of operation.

El Paso, Texas —Florida sent nearly 500 Florida National Guard Soldiers to the Texas - Mexico border in support of Operation Lone Star, May 21, 2023.

The Guardsmen from the sunshine state arrived Sunday and spread out across the Texas border from Del Rio/Eagle Pass and El Paso to other points where they could make the most impact. The Soldiers will be assisting Troopers from The Texas Department of Public Safety and working with Texas Guardsmen on Operation Lone Star.

The arriving Soldiers will boost current operations, and focus on safeguarding our border. They will work alongside the Texas National Guard and Texas law enforcement partners to detect, deter and interdict transnational criminal activity between points of entry. The mission remains the same; to deny all illegal entry into Texas and the US.

by: Airman 1st Class Asiah Phillips, 147th Attack Wing, Texas Air National Guard

HONOLULU, Hawaii - Members of the 147th Air Support Operations Squadron sharpened their ability to operate in jungle-like terrain during a 10-day exercise in Hawaii. 

The overall objective of the training was to prepare the 147th Tactical Air Control Party Specialists and Joint Terminal Attack Controllers in the Texas Air National Guard for success in the Pacific Theater.

TACP is one of the two weapons systems supported by the 147th Attack Wing on Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in Houston. In the past, they have served as a liaison between the Air Force and Army by supporting air strikes, maximizing firepower on the ground, and collecting data for the combatant commander. Recently, TACP has shifted its focus to be more Air Force-centric.

Lt. Col. Steven Kroll, 147th ASOS commander, and Master Sgt. Justin Tassin, 147th ASOS operations superintendent, chose to train in Honolulu in April due to its ability to mimic the tropical terrain found in Pacific regions. In previous conflicts, TACPs trained in desert-like environments. With the current geopolitical climate, it has become increasingly important to be able to operate in the Pacific.

“For the wing commander, the objective is to be ready to fight at any time. This is how we do it,” said Kroll. “This is testing our ability as a unit to mobilize, deploy and operate in an unfamiliar environment.”

Tassin partnered with Air Force, Marine Corps, Army and Navy squadrons in Hawaii to coordinate the exercises and logistics of the field training. 

Most of the ground training was led by survival, evasion, resistance and escape specialists from the 15th Operations Support Squadron at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam with the 25th ASOS at Wheeler Army Air Field.

“It has been a true joint effort as far as the training aspect,” said Tassin. “It’s a training wonderland for all of the objectives that we can accomplish. You can come here and accomplish a full mission set with the environment and the Marines and Army here.”

The 147th ASOS is focused on succeeding in any theater, regardless of the location. They will continue to sharpen their skills through joint force partnerships to achieve their objectives.

by: Sgt. 1st Class Douglas D. Stephens

​​​​​​​LINCOLN, Neb. – Six Texas National Guard Soldiers competed for a spot on the National Guard Military Competitions All Guard Marathon Team, running 26.2 miles at the 46th annual Lincoln Marathon, May 7, 2023, in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Texas Army National Guard was represented by Maj. Amanda Tooke, Capt. Melinda Dominguez, Capt. Ethan McIntosh, 1^st Lt. Sarah Perez, Staff Sgt. Alicia Reagan, and Spc. Zakary Widenor.

Capt. Melinda Dominguez, Joint Forces Head Quarters, Austin, TX placed 2^nd in her age group and earned a spot on the All Guard Marathon Team after completing the 26.2 miles in 3:44:16.

Capt. Ethan McIntosh, Recruiting and Retention Command, Houston, TX placed 10^th in his age group and earned a spot on the All Guard Marathon Team after completing the 26.2 miles in 2:58:35.

More than 200 Airmen and Soldiers representing the National Guard from all 50 states, three U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia ran the Lincoln Marathon. This is the first time in over three decades that “all 54” were represented in the field of National Guard competitors for the marathon.

The runners on the All Guard Marathon Team will travel to other races over the next two years throughout the United States. The National Guard Military Competitions Program, which includes both a Marathon Team and an Endurance Team, exists to promote physical fitness, self-discipline and esprit de corps among National Guard members while assisting recruiting and retention efforts at each community where they compete.

The All Guard Marathon Team consists of 78 total members determined by the time trials. The top 51 males, top 21 females (including one Air Guard member per gender) and the top three runners of each gender in the over-50 Masters category.

Staff Sgt. Derek Yorek, Arkansas Army National Guard, placed first overall for the male category, and Capt. Brittany Downs, Ohio Army National Guard, placed first overall for the female category for the All Guard Marathon Team time trials. The Ohio National Guard Marathon Team was named the overall National Guard team winner of the 2023 competition.

By Major Phoebe Sisk, Texas State Guard

The Art and Science of Becoming a Leader  

Austin - You'll need to be at the top of your class with straight A's if you're applying to USMA (better known as West Point), but even so, most who aspire to attend will fall into the 90% of applicants who are not accepted.  

Not so for Texas State Guard Chief of Staff Colonel Darren Fitz Gerald, who will tell you that he chose to attend West Point because it was the only college that did accept him out of the handful of highly competitive, nationally ranked institutions to which he applied. “I was wait-listed by Duke, Dartmouth, John Hopkins, and other service academies,” he said.   

As a world premier leader-development institution and the most prestigious military academy in the world, West Point is consistently ranked among the top colleges in the country, admitting 1000-1400 new “plebes” each year who fall in to join the total ranks of 4400 cadets for the Acceptance Day parade. According to Fitz Gerald, not all plebes who start will finish. “Of the 1310 in my class, only 929 actually graduated,” he said.   

As West Point seeks candidates with academic prowess, physical fitness, leadership potential, and a congressional or service-related nomination, Fitz Gerald, is presented as the ideal profile. Raised by hardworking parents, Fitz Gerald assimilated their good example of discipline and ethics to become a well-rounded, high school high achiever.   

Earning exemplary grades as an honor student, Fitz Gerald was also an accomplished athlete, playing soccer and serving as the varsity captain of the track team. Additionally, he demonstrated maturity and self-governance by mentoring and caring for his two younger siblings; holding an after-school job; writing for the school paper; and keeping the company of other high achievers.   

With just the right variables of nature and nurture in his Massachusetts upbringing, Fitz Gerald was a self-avowed “born conformist” who benefited from the influence of his parents' German and Irish heritage in developing their same sensibilities of grit and extreme order in the household.   

Raised in a home built in 1720, the house, and especially the kitchen, was immaculately maintained without exception. And sleeping in sub-freezing temperatures, with only a wood-burning stove for warmth, was never viewed as a hardship but rather as a practicality of daily life.   

Fitz Gerald describes the dedication of his parents in sharing the responsibilities of bringing in income for the family, with his father working as an x-ray department administrator during the day and his mother working as a hospital lab tech at night. “My parents just did what needed to be done,” he said. “It wasn’t until I was a parent myself that I realized the degree of their sacrifice to provide for us. We weren’t wealthy but I was raised in a home in which all my needs were provided for, and I never once wondered whether I was loved,” said FitzGerald.   

Fitz Gerald describes a surprisingly easy integration into life at West Point, based on his ability to respond instinctively to the training environment. The philosophical approach of no excuses and no wasted words or actions had become second nature due to his own parents’ unspoken code of ethics. “I realized in the first few weeks that I was good at being a cadet,” he said, “and at 18 months, I really understood and embraced the commitment I was making to the military.”  

Fitz Gerald’s natural fit in the West Point environment led to career experiences beyond his four years of schooling, including obtaining a master’s degree in leadership and counseling in 2002-2003 and joining the staff, originally as a TAC officer. Later, FitzGerald would become a Professor of Military Science and Commandant of Cadets for Wentworth Military Academy & College.   

To date, mentoring young persons and assisting in their professional and personal development remains the most significant accomplishment of his career. “I am most fulfilled in helping people reach their potential,” says Fitz Gerald.   

Piotr Drwal, currently training to be a pilot in the Army, benefitted from the mentoring of Fitz Gerald as a cadet under his tutelage at Wentworth Military Academy and College in Lexington, Missouri, where Fitz Gerald served as Dean of Students and Commandant of Cadets through 2017.  

According to Drwal, Fitz Gerald used every opportunity to ensure his growth as a cadet, treating him as family and taking time to give detailed input to ensure success. “We believed as cadets that he did not make mistakes- he appeared to be everywhere, ready to give feedback on what ‘right’ looks like and to hypothesize scenarios to share lessons learned,” he said.   

This input early on, according to Drwal, has enormously impacted the military leader that he is today. “COL Fitz Gerald is someone that I wanted to emulate within my military career- I knew it would be hard, but I like to aim high. He set a notable example and is an inspirational person who has positively affected thousands of people,” said Drwal.   

Leading with Intent 

As someone who has mastered the art of instruction, Fitz Gerald appreciates West Point as the optimal training environment due to students being a captive audience- with zero distractions- who will have no choice but to embrace the challenges before them.   

“Cadets are given progressive increases in responsibility with room to fail,” said Fitz Gerald.  “Additionally, participation is mandatory- cadets can’t escape, they can’t hide, they can’t opt out... they must face the task at hand head-on and grow from it. Inevitably, in every situation, they will learn to succeed because there is no other choice...it's the immersive environment at a military school that sets it apart from other environments.”  

In his twenty-year career in the active-duty military, Fitz Gerald learned one of his most difficult leadership lessons during deployment to Afghanistan. After two company commanders were killed in action, Fitz Gerald came to understand well the criticality of having trained and ready personnel. “It’s important that you have other leaders who are mentally prepared and equipped to step in as immediately as necessary,” he said.  

Also born of extreme circumstances during his tour of Afghanistan was the honing of his instincts to know and trust subordinate officers. “One of the most significant decisions I had to make while deployed was to go against the intent of a senior commander in order to support a junior commander’s decision to put the safety of his team above a recovery mission,” said Fitz Gerald. “I was well familiar with his extensive background in special operations and understood why he was making the call- it was the right choice,” he said.   

Whether in war or garrison, Fitz Gerald maintains that integrity is the most important leadership trait in that it informs all other principles of leadership- and because, without it, trust is not possible within an organization.   

By all indications, Fitz Gerald has excelled in winning the trust of other senior leaders on the Texas State Guard staff, including those tried and tested combat veterans who do not necessarily give it freely.   

Texas State Guard Sergeant Major and retired Army veteran Juli Blenis has worked with COL Fitz Gerald since 2017 and acknowledges his willingness to execute tough decisions. “He is one of those leaders who has the integrity to do the right thing, even if it means he stands alone,” she said. “He’s an intelligent man and has demonstrated, over and over again through his actions, that integrity equals honor.”    

Texas State Guard T-1 Master Sgt. Gerald Steward has worked with the Chief of Staff for the past 3 years and speaks plainly when it comes to his opinion of COL FitzGerald. “He’s the best leader I’ve worked for in 21 ½ years of federal service and two combat tours, hands down,” he said. “He’s very smart, fair, impartial, and a good listener- and even when he doesn’t agree with you, which he will readily do, he explains his reasons so that you leave the conversation feeling respected,” said Steward. “I also appreciate that he is a critical thinker, and he challenges us, as his staff, to read and be critical thinkers as well.”  

Other staff members agree that Fitz Gerald is the best choice for the position he holds.   

According to Lieutenant Colonel Daniel McCarroll, Deputy T-3 for Operations, “COL FitzGerald is level-headed with a calming presence, and is unquestionably the right face for the TXSG because of his military bearing and experience.”    

McCarroll considers one of Fitz Gerald’s most valuable traits to be his readiness to engage in dynamic discussions about leadership, which includes sharing relevant experiences from Fitz Gerald’s days as an elite soccer coach. “Coaching and leadership go hand in hand in that the best leaders make coaching a part of their job,” said   
McCarroll. “It’s amazing what you can learn about leadership from a good coach.”  

Moreover, McCarroll appreciates Fitz Gerald’s forward-thinking posture in terms of growth for the organization. “He’s a steward of the profession of leadership. We’ve had great conversations in acknowledging that leaders grow leaders within an organization... to the extent of asking ourselves ‘How do we do that?’ We’ve recognized that our goal as TXSG HQ is to make ourselves obsolete by empowering and developing true leaders within the ranks,” said McCarroll.  

Leadership: Not a Choice   

Industry experts affirm that while we may choose to adopt certain styles or strategies as leaders, the dynamic of our continual influence over others is a fixed variable, according to behavioral psychology, and is represented as much by what we choose to do and say as what we choose not to.   

It holds, therefore, that leadership is not a choice or an act that begins or ends. It follows us to the dinner table and, if you are COL Darren Fitz Gerald, to the sidelines of the soccer field.   

And if you are COL Darren Fitz Gerald’s parents because your leadership followed you to the dinner table, your son’s his very first lessons of leadership were learned there, setting the stage for a later seamless and successful transition into first the United States Military Academy, or West Point, and then into the US Army and TXSG.   

“I had no idea what I was getting into initially,” said Fitz Gerald, “but I believe my parents' example of hard work and ethical behavior set the foundation for what has become a rewarding military career."  

The Texas State Guard is one of three branches of the Texas Military Department, along with the Texas Army National Guard and the Texas Air National Guard. Other benefits of service in the Texas State Guard include state tuition assistance, a daily stipend for state active duty, and much more.  A full list of benefits can be found online at tmd.texas.gov under the State Guard tab.

By David Brown, 1LT, Texas State Guard

HUMBLE, Texas - Though her husband often has to be away for his work in the Texas State Guard, one might well find Celia Levesque at home in Humble at her sewing machine, busy making dolls to give to kids with diabetes. Not just any dolls, mind you, but dolls with special needs like their soon-to-be “parents”.

“(Diabetes is) such a devastating disease, and it requires every minute of every day–there’s no vacations or time off–and so you’re either checking your blood sugar, you’re eating something, you’re changing something out,” Levesque says. She knows first hand, as a person with Type 1 diabetes, herself. Years ago, while volunteering to help a group of young children at the American Diabetes Association’s ‘Camp Rainbow’ in Houston, Levesque recalls bringing in a ‘Jerry the Bear’ doll, designed to appear as if he has Type 1 diabetes.

“It had a little computer on his tummy and everything (to ‘check blood sugar’ levels), and you could feed Jerry, give him insulin and give him a pump and everything… and those kids fought over him the whole time, ‘Oh, I want to feed Jerry and give Jerry insulin’ and that sort of thing. So at the end of the camp, one girl was in tears when she had to leave camp because she didn’t want to leave Jerry behind.”

It inspired Levesque (who also works as a nurse practitioner at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston treating kids with diabetes who have cancer) to begin making dolls to give to the children. “The next year,” Levesque says, “I purchased some basic unclothed dolls with faces and hair, and I made clothes for them. I hadn’t sewn since college, so I got an inexpensive sewing machine and made that first batch. Then the next year, I found they’d stopped making the basic dolls with faces and hair so I decided to make my own dolls from scratch. I bought an embroidering machine to stitch out the faces, and I put the hair on them and made up the clothes. Then I learned how to make doll backpacks, so inside the backpacks kids would get a plastic vial with sparkle glitter on it (to represent insulin), and I’d buy syringes with no needles, and would embroider little insulin pumps and glucose monitors, and would put on velcro to attach the backpacks to the dolls. I knew (the camp kids) all needed their own dolls.”

As comforting and cute as the dolls are, there’s an educational component, as well.

“For food, at first I used pieces of foam, but then I found erasers shaped like food. And for the meter (which measures blood sugar), I found a little recording speaker device that looks a bit like a meter, decorated it, and loaded sounds on them so that when you press the button, the child hears whether to feed their dolly, check their blood sugar and that sort of thing. So the kids get to learn that sugars go up, sugars go down–no judgment about ‘good’ or ‘bad– and when it comes to food they have healthy choices and a little junk food, too. The idea is to add a little education there and they get to take the dolls home with them. They also get a coloring page to put the name of their doll on.”

Since she first began giving away dolls to kids at the Rainbow Camp seven years ago, Levesque says she has no idea how many dolls she’s made and given out - “several hundred, I guess.” Last year Levesque made and distributed 50 dolls; for this year’s Camp Rainbow, she’s already made 30, with more on the way so that she has a variety of ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ dolls with different skin tones, hair colors, and, now, bunnies and bears, too.

If these dolls sound a bit like those expensive ‘Care Bears’ or ‘Build-A-Bears’, you’re on to something, only Levesque doesn’t charge a penny for her handmade dolls. This, despite the fact that the embroidering machines alone were purchased at an enormous personal cost, to say nothing of the rest of the fabric materials needed, the time spent planning, designing, and stitching the tiny bodies and costumes, preparing the miniature recorder/speaker devices and the programming software, and the countless hours of sewing involved. All of it done with love.

The West Texas native reckons each doll takes about 18 hours to make from start to finish, though typically Levesque will try to do multiple dolls in batches, cutting out fabric for several at once, stitching up multiple arms and legs in one sitting, little steps that make assembling the dolls more efficient.

But Levesque says she sometimes does one-off dolls for kids who’ve been newly diagnosed, or for diabetes educators when asked. Again, free of charge. “Now if someone wants to donate some material, I won’t say no,” she adds with a smile.

Levesque’s spirit of public service seems to run in the family. Her husband, Col. Arthur Levesque, is in the Texas State Guard Training Center of the Texas State Guard and also serves with the local unit of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) near Houston. “We often talk about the support we get from our spouses to work with the Texas State Guard,” Col. Levesque says. “I would like to think that I have encouraged and supported her desire to make a positive impact on little children with diabetes.”

In addition to her work with the diabetes camp, Celia Levesque also does volunteer work through her church (Second Baptist Church in Kingwood), helping to feed the hungry during the holidays, and distributing toys to underprivileged children at Christmas.

April is National Volunteer Month. "In the Texas State Guard, service members selflessly volunteer their time and expertise to help their fellow Texans during emergencies and disasters,” says Maj. Gen. Anthony Woods, Commanding General of the Texas State Guard, “but we often find that the families of service members give to their communities in other ways that are just as important. Though they may not be wearing the uniform, their volunteerism is vital, and inspiring to us all.”

For Celia Levesque, volunteering is a calling, clearly inspired by faith. “I’ve been so blessed to have a good job, to live in a country where I have health care… I’m doing what God wants me do to–and I just feel that I should give back.

The Texas State Guard salutes those who are serving their communities in a variety of different ways. Since World War Two, tens of thousands of men and women have chosen to serve their fellow Texans by joining the ranks of the Texas State Guard. Information about opportunities in the nation’s premier State Guard force can be found online at tmd.texas.gov/state-guard.

By David Brown, 1LT, Texas State Guard 

DALLAS - Experts estimate there are some 26,000 people experiencing homelessness in Texas, with the greatest concentration in the Dallas area.  For about three years now, Lisa Dennis Thompson has been doing her part to make sure that many of those dealing with homelessness don’t also have to go hungry.   

Thompson is part of a church-based organization, Help Feed Your Brother, led by Terry Hines which provides meals for those without a home, and meets those in need where they are–wherever they are.  After initially setting up the distribution of food in various parts of Dallas near shelters, Thompson and her colleagues now pre-prepare meals and take them into parts of the city where people are living outdoors.  

“This work has humbled me,” Thompson says, who attributes much of her interest in public service to her faith. “I’ve always known of homeless people, of course, but this work has brought me closer to them. They are down-to-earth people, just down on their luck for whatever reason. Their attitude is always gratitude and thankfulness.”  

Thompson’s volunteer work comes in addition to her full-time administrative career. “To me, it’s a sacrifice,” Thompson says, “...but I’ve found that the more we give, the more we get back.”  

Community service is a family affair for Thompson, whose husband, Harlan, is Senior Enlisted Advisor in the Texas State Guard. Command Sgt. Maj. Thompson is also a Master Peace Officer and a police sergeant with the Collin County College District.  

“I’m so proud of the hard work Lisa has been doing on behalf of the homeless,” says Command Sgt. Maj. Thompson. “I also appreciate that she’s teaching the importance of serving those less fortunate than ourselves to the next two generations of our family.”  The Thompsons have three adult children, Gary, Ashley, and Jessica, and 14 grandchildren.  

Advocates say more volunteers are needed for the important work of feeding those experiencing homelessness. Lisa Thompson says she hopes more people will be moved to make a commitment to feeding the hungry in our communities. “I’d say ‘do it once–and make up your mind to commit to (doing this work),” she says. “I find it very rewarding.” 

During April, National Volunteerism Month, the men and women of the Texas State Guard salute those who give of their time and efforts both in- and out-of-uniform to help make Texas a better place. Opportunities to serve in the nation’s preeminent State Guard force can be found online at tmd.texas.gov/state-guard. 

By Gregory Illich, Warrant Officer 1, Texas State Guard 

CENTERVILLE, Texas - Many of us only wish that our day-to-day work and service would be more than a job or task and so we look forward to our days off and busy our weekends with our hobbies. For Sgt. Eric Munoz of the 2nd Brigade, Texas State Guard, his work is not laborious or burdensome: it is the sharing of his love of the outdoors with his fellow veterans, in true camaraderie.  

Munoz is the Founder and President of Texas Outdoor Heroes, a 501(c)(3) non-profit which helps veterans in need to experience the outdoors, fishing, camping, cookouts, hunting, and hiking at no cost, to enrich their lives as they deal with stress and various challenges. Through his organization’s network of contacts, Munoz also helps veterans connect with counseling services and other resources they may need. Each year he hosts “A Salute to Veterans” event with barbecue and entertainment to show those that have served that they are appreciated. Also, he reaches out to the veterans in his local community each month to foster a strong community and friendships.   

Munoz lives in the rural town of Centerville, Texas, and enjoys working on his cousin’s ranch. A self-taught welder by trade, he owns and manages a small business that manufactures farm and commercial metal buildings. An outdoorsman, he enjoys camping, hunting, and fishing.  

A veteran with the U.S. Army and the Texas Army National Guard in the 141st Infantry Regiment (Mechanized), Munoz served as an infantry soldier trained especially on crew-served heavy anti-armor weapons such as the TOW anti-tank missile and was the designated tank driver for his squad.  

After leaving federal service, Munoz says he looked back fondly on his time in uniform. He missed the camaraderie, but also realized there were many fellow veterans who needed help, the assistance of various kinds, but most importantly, someone to talk to who had a shared experience. Having looked up other veteran’s groups and associations, he discovered there was a need that fits well with his passion: the outdoors. He wanted to share his love of outdoor experiences with his brother and sister veterans, especially those who felt isolated, misunderstood, or suffered from PTSD. He believes that facilitating these activities with groups of veterans who have shared experiences is an excellent form of therapy. 

“I started the veteran’s support non-profit in honor of my son's best friend, Sgt. Wade Wilson, a U.S. Marine who was killed in action while serving in Afghanistan in 2011,” Munoz explains. “He was a remarkable young man who loved hanging out with his friends. Always had a trick or two up his sleeve. The hardest thing for me was getting the news and having to tell my son about his friend. We live in a small town where everyone knows everyone. The war that was going on in Iraq & Afghanistan became very real.” 
 
After mustering the entire community to turn out in Wilson’s honor when he was laid to rest, Munoz knew he wanted to do more - make a more lasting tribute. Munoz was the driving force in renaming a portion of I-45 in the Centerville area for Wilson.  

Munoz said, “I told the local and state representatives, ‘I will do everything I can to make this happen, but I will let you handle the political side of things while I get the community support and funding.’” Persevering through a lengthy process, Munoz achieved his goal on May 26, 2017, when legislation was added to the Texas Transportation Code renaming a 17-mile stretch of I-45 the ‘Sergeant Wade Daniel Wilson Memorial Highway’.  

“The highway not only honors Wade’s sacrifice but expresses our support for all those who have served and all families that have lost loved ones in the military,” Munoz says. “After renaming the highway, I still wanted to do more, so I joined the Texas State Guard, to serve again with my fellow brothers and sisters in uniform, helping Texans in time of need.” 

The Texas State Guard is one of three branches of the Texas Military Department, which also includes the Texas Army National Guard and the Texas Air National Guard. For more than 80 years, thousands of men and women, including many veterans of federal service, have volunteered to serve their state in the Guard, answering the call of civilian authorities during countless disasters and emergencies statewide.  

Since 2011, Munoz’s organization has hosted an annual cookout event honoring veterans, providing food and entertainment at no cost to all veterans who attend. Also, Munoz continues to host camping, hunting, and fishing trips each year, benefiting hundreds of veterans over the years.  

Munoz’s passion is shared by his family. His three sisters, Lupita De La Rosa, Cecilia Morales, and Lorena Garcia all help with the non-profit's mission by preparing meals for the veterans as needed, on occasion serving as many as 450 at a time. His wife, Gloria, assists in the bookkeeping and day-to-day operation of the non-profit.  

“This year is my 12th year helping veterans,” Munoz explains. “It is my way to give back and show appreciation for my fellow veterans and let them know they are not forgotten, and they are not alone. I am there for them.” 

During April, National Volunteer Month, the Texas State Guard is turning a spotlight on Texans who give of their time and efforts to make their communities a better place. In the Texas State Guard, there are many, like Munoz, who go above-and-beyond the call of duty to serve their fellow Texans. More information on opportunities to serve in the Texas State Guard can be found online at tmd.texas.gov/state-guard.  

By David Brown, 1st Lieutenant, Texas State Guard 

HOUSTON – A year before Pearl Harbor, the ‘super soldier’ made his first appearance: clad in a uniform of red, white, and blue on the cover of a comic book, delivering an uppercut to Adolf Hitler.  These days, you might find Captain America at a Houston area hospital, kneeling by the side of a sick child’s bed.   

“Are you really Captain America?” the child often asks. Rising with a crisp military salute, the masked soldier replies, “Captain Steve Rogers, at your service, Sir!”  And for a few moments, the pain seems to melt away from the child’s face, replaced with a smile.   

Yes, he’s a soldier–in real life, a Warrant Officer in the Texas State Guard. His ‘secret identity’ is Greg Illich of Houston, and his ‘superpower’ is volunteering.   

In his role as Captain America, cheering up sick kids at hospitals and visiting schools across the Houston area with an anti-bullying message, Illich is utterly convincing as the leader of ‘The Avengers’ in his theatrical-grade costume and aircraft-aluminum shield. 

But his other uniform is the real deal: the green camo of a Texas State Guard soldier assigned to the 2nd Brigade. And it is lifesaving work, requiring constant professional and military training in order to be ready to serve fellow Texans whenever called upon by civil authorities.   

Since World War II, thousands of Texas men and women have volunteered to give back to their home state through service in the Texas State Guard, one of three branches of the Texas Military Department (which also includes the Texas Army National Guard and the Texas Air National Guard).  The Texas State Guard has earned a reputation as the premier State Guard force in the nation, saving lives, providing shelter, leading search and rescue missions, and serving with distinction through disasters like Hurricane Harvey and countless other emergencies across Lone Star State.  

Service in the Texas State Guard requires no small amount of personal sacrifice, including time away from home and family. Illich has been married for 34 years to Maria, a school teacher. They have one daughter, Katherine, who is an artist in Denver. “Make no mistake, we know that the families of service members sacrifice, too, so that their loved ones can serve,” says Maj. Gen. Anthony Woods, Commanding General of the Texas State Guard. “We all have deep respect and gratitude for that sacrifice.”  

“Six years ago, my wife told me about a student at her school who had been diagnosed with bone cancer,” Illich recalls. “She said ‘Let’s go visit…but I want you to dress up.’ I said, ‘What?’ She said, ‘Yup, you’ve got the t-shirt and shield (which Illich used to wear on the front porch at Halloween)’. My first response was ‘negative’. I’m not that guy to puff my chest out and try to be something I’m not.” 

“It’s not about you, it’s about the kids,” Maria replied.  

That did it. After the first visit, the nurses asked ‘Cap’ to come back. Over time, the costumes got better. Much better. And the visits to kids at children’s hospitals, burn centers, and schools began mounting deep into the triple digits.  

“One of the reasons I am Captain America is because I was bullied as a kid. I was a big comic book fan as a kid, but Captain America really spoke to me. He’s a defender,” says Illich. “When I visit the schools, anti-bullying is a big part of my message. At hospitals, it’s an opportunity for me to ask the kids, ‘What’s your superpower?’” He encourages them to think of how they can use their talents to better society. For some kids, it’s an opportunity to see themselves in a whole new light–not as little or frail, but as a hero, a winner.  

“I once walked off from visiting a kid and heard a mom say to her son, ‘Yeah, he’s real, honey…’”, Illich laughs. 

Stories are a passion for Illich, who has B.A. and Masters’ degrees in history. For 13 years, he put his nuanced understanding of history to work as a fraud investigator (“a historian-as-detective”, Illich says) working alongside the FBI, the Secret Service, and local law enforcement fighting financial crimes. His history studies came in useful as a schoolteacher for a brief period, too. But what began as a hobby became full-time work for Illich in 2006, who is today an independent instructor in the martial art of taiji (also commonly written as ‘tai chi’), an ancient Chinese practice used in defense training, meditation, and health.   

Somehow, Illich finds room in his schedule to serve his community in other ways, too - assisting at Young Eagles fly-in events to share the love of aviation with young people (Illich is also a pilot), as a lector and usher at his church, and honoring fallen service members and first responders as part of the Patriot Guard Riders motorcycle honor guard carrying the U.S. flag at more than 450 funerals since 2006.  

That guy in the Avengers films? That Chris Evans. He’s an actor.  

The hero is a soldier with a supersized heart for public service. 

And that’s for real.  

There are many ways to serve your community and your state, and during National Volunteer Month, the Texas State Guard salutes all who serve in ways big and small.  If you have a passion for public service and would like to learn about opportunities to serve in the uniform of the Texas State Guard, visit us online at tmd.texas.gov/state-guard.