I have been wanting to give something back to my community and the great state of Texas but due to traveling for work I could not do much.

I found the Texas State Guard a couple years ago and it sounded interesting. For those who do not know what the TSG is it is a non-armed arm of the Texas Military department that assists with disasters and such.

They do not have the 39yo cut off like the national guard and are looking for Civil Affairs qualified soldiers I figured I would give it a try. I have done disaster recovery in the telecom world for more than 20 years for tier 1 carriers and the OEM vendors so hopefully they can put me to good use.

Anyway back to the original question;

Anyone with any experience with the Texas State Guard?

quote:

Originally posted by dewhorse:
I have been wanting to give something back to my community and the great state of Texas but due to traveling for work I could not do much.

I found the Texas State Guard a couple years ago and it sounded interesting. For those who do not know what the TSG is it is a non-armed arm of the Texas Military department that assists with disasters and such.

They do not have the 39yo cut off like the national guard and are looking for Civil Affairs qualified soldiers I figured I would give it a try. I have done disaster recovery in the telecom world for more than 20 years for tier 1 carriers and the OEM vendors so hopefully they can put me to good use.

Anyway back to the original question;

Anyone with any experience with the Texas State Guard?

I am watching this thread with interest, though I'm not a) in Texas or b) in a state with a State Guard / Defense Force.

I did have liaison responsibilities for a few months, a few years back, with the Georgia Defense Force. It was eye-opening and while they seemed to have a somewhat fractious relationship with the National Guard, they did good work (this was a disaster relief and preparedness job.)

State Defense Forces in general are a militia resource for the state governor that aren't subject to Federal regulation, command, call-up, or service outside the state (and as you note, generally unarmed.) They're answerable only to the state. Concurrent with some of their disaster planning, GDF/GSDF was doing "caretaker" work on a number of NG missions and facilities where the usual NG unit was deployed.

I see a possibility for expanded use/roles for State Guards in states that might become weary of downward Federal pressure on their NG components.

I'm hoping somebody with first-hand exposure comes along.