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"Texans Serving Texas"

 

FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLIC RELEASE:

San Antonio pilot promoted to brigadier general in Texas State Guard

 

AUSTIN, Texas (Dec. 16, 2019) - On Nov. 15, 2019, Col. Thomas P. Ball, III, was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the Texas State Guard. The ceremony took place at the Fort Sam Houston Quadrangle located on Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas.  

Ball, who also assumes command of the 3rd Brigade of the TXSG, is a veteran and experienced Airman with more than 8,000 hours in military and civilian cockpits. In his civilian profession, he serves as a pilot for a major airline.

In 2012, after a distinguished career in the Air Force and the Air Force Reserve, including special operations assignments and active deployments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, he joined the Texas State Guard.  

Ball was initially assigned command of the Guard’s 5th Air Wing, based at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. In 2016, he was transferred to headquarters at Camp Mabry, becoming vice commander of the TXSG air component.  

As a former chief of security forces for air education and training command, Ball is uniquely qualified to prepare and lead mission-capable State Guardsmen in support of the Texas Air National Guard as a force multiplier. The air component also works as a unit of defense support to civil authorities on missions related to homeland security and in what are frequently life-saving roles during natural disasters, such as Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

Ball is a graduate of San Antonio’s MacArthur High School and a 1986 graduate of Texas A&M University.  He is the son of retired Maj. Gen. Thomas P. Ball, Jr., M.D., and Patty Ball of San Antonio.  Ball is married to the former Julie Morrison, and they have two grown sons.

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The mission of the Texas Military Department (TMD) is to provide the Governor and the President with ready and trained forces in support of the citizens of Texas and State and Federal civil/military authorities at home and abroad.

The Texas Military Department is commanded by the Adjutant General of Texas, the state's senior military official appointed by the governor, and is comprised of the Office of State Administration (formerly the Office of the Executive Director), the Texas Army National Guard (TXARNG), the Texas Air National Guard (TXANG) and the Texas State Guard (TXSG).

For more information about the Texas Military Department visit our Website at https://tmd.texas.gov.