Story by: Sgt. James Strunk

Posted: Oct. 24, 2016

FORT HOOD, Texas – Soldiers of the 249th Transportation Company made a historical change for the Texas Army National Guard when they re-patched under 1st Cavalry Division, 1st Cavalry Sustainment Brigade during a ceremony at Fort Hood, Oct. 16, 2016. 

“I am anxious and excited just to see where that ultimately takes us – the opportunity that we have now because of this. What we can teach them as well as what they can teach us,” said Texas Army National Guard Capt. Lucas Hamilton, commander of the 249th Transportation Company.

The three-year program pairs an active-duty unit with those in the Army Reserve and Army National Guard so they can train together and deploy together, as well as includes an exchange of assigned personnel between the two partner units to promote better Total Force integration as a part of the Army’s Associated Units Pilot.

“Readiness continues to be my number one priority and in order to maintain that readiness we must leverage our partnerships,” said Maj. Gen. William L. Smith, Deputy Adjutant General-Army and Commander of the Texas Army National Guard, “This Associated Units Pilot Program will be a dramatic shift in what has been a decades old paradigm.”

The 249th Transportation Company joined 27 other Army units selected for the Associated Units Pilot Program, including four from the Texas Army National Guard. 
                
“We are one army and we are not small,” said Lt. Col. Daryl Morse, commander of Special Troops Battalion, 1st Cavalry Sustainment Brigade. “We are big and we are capable; we are capable because of the National Guard.”

This association enables integration of formations from units of different components prior to mobilization through collective trailing. 

“I think this is a fantastic thing,” said Morse. “In a sense it’s just a validation of what we’ve been doing for years. Our sustainment brigade alone has had a connection with the Texas National Guard for years. But it’s something that’s never been formalized.”

During the patch-over ceremony, the 249th Transportation Company officially relinquished command and control of the unit to the 1st Cavalry, for the duration of the pilot program and will include changing of the unit patch on the guardsmen’s uniforms.

Participation in this pilot program, will not an have impact on the unit’s ability to respond or provide assistance during emergency response missions.

Posted: Oct. 5, 2016

Story by: Sgt. Elizabeth Peña 

Laredo, Texas -- Rain was pouring heavily and swift waters were rising fast along the Rio Grande River near Eagle Pass. Del Rio border patrol agents working in that area received a report and had to act fast.

“The days before and the day of the incident, Eagle Pass had received a lot of rain so the levels of the Rio Grande had risen more than normal; it got pretty deep,” said Sgt. Josue Gonzalez, border patrol agent and traditional guardsman with the 836th Engineer Company, Texas National Guard.

Gonzalez and another border patrol agent received a report that a large group of adults and children were crossing the river near the port of entry and several of the people in the group were seen floating uncontrollably downriver.

“When we got on site we saw a young man and woman being swept by the currents,” said Gonzalez. “The young man was able to swim so he was able to get back to the other side, but the girl wasn’t that lucky.”

The young woman grabbed onto a rope that was tied to the port of entry pillar as Gonzalez and his partner unsuccessfully attempted to throw her a rescue rope.

“She was afraid to let go of her rope and grab onto ours,” said Gonzalez. “So Garcia and I realized that if anything else would not be done, the possibilities of her being swept away were really high.”

Gonzalez and his partner tied the rescue ropes unto their waist and entered the water, but the strong current quickly swept them away as well, his determination however, remained strong... READ MORE

Story by: Sgt. Elizabeth Pena

Posted: August 12, 2016

SAN ANTONIO – Every day holds the possibility for a miracle, but Arthur Corenblith, 56, husband and father of two, was quickly losing hope and questioned how many days he had left to live.

Corenblith, an elementary school teacher was suffering from a genetic illness and needed a kidney transplant fast. He had been on the waiting list for what seemed like a lifetime.

 At 93 percent kidney failure, Corenblith was put on dialysis.

“At that time I had been on the list for four years and I was getting nowhere. I had gotten pneumonia, I had been in the hospital for over a month; I would connect to the dialysis machine every night for a year and a half, for nine hours and I was still teaching school as well; I would literally have to hold on to my podium while teaching.”

One of the hardest parts for Corenblith was missing out on his youngest son’s soccer season due to being on the dialysis machine every day.

“I really didn’t have a night anymore. My 13-year-old had to be driven to and from soccer practice by his coach,” he said.

 Friends and family tried donating to Corenblith but were disqualified due to medical history.

 His sister went as far as writing a sign on her car. “She put on her car, with shoe polish, my brother needs a kidney,” he said.

 Under a new policy made by the United Network for Organ Sharing in 2012, the fittest organs would be given to those likely to live the longest with the donated organ. The top 20 percent of kidneys would be offered to the top 20 percent of patients and the other 80 percent would work the same way....READ MORE

Story by: Staff Sgt. Jennifer Atkinson  
Joint Task Force 136th (Maneuver Enhancement Brigade) 

Posted on: Aug 16, 2016

The adage “an army marches on its stomach” carries more than a kernel of truth. Not only are field rations critical in maintaining combat readiness by supplying the nutrition needed by Soldiers to perform well in the field, chow is often closely tied to troop morale. 

Field kitchens have evolved, from cramped tents to crowded truck beds, and most recently, the compact containerized kitchen, but the cooks of the 136th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade are getting a chance to test an entirely new concept kitchen.

More closely resembling a “bounce house” than the squared-up design of the modern containerized kitchen, this prototype field kitchen is ahead of the standard in terms of safety, speed and efficiency.

“With this set up, we can knock out the food, move on, and find ourselves ahead of schedule, ” said Sgt. 1st Class Mark Shaw, Headquarters and Headquarter Co., 136th Military Police Battalion. “We would not have made mission today without it.”

This particular configuration of field kitchen is a totally new concept, said Ramiro Andrade, the engineering project manager with Babington Technology. The 636th BSB has been working with Babington and its partner company AAR Mobilizations Systems, over the past few years to develop a better field kitchen design, and will get the chance to demonstrate the improvements to the National Guard Bureau during an upcoming field visit.

Babington makes the heating elements used in the new kitchen, and they're a massive step up from the old burners. The burner units are modular, making maintenance and replacement less expensive, both in terms of money and time spent learning to repair or maintain six different types of burner.

“We cooked 600 of the 800 portions for breakfast in the new kitchen and 200 in the other kitchen,” said Shaw, “and the new one won, hands down.” Read More...