Following a heavy influx of undocumented foreign immigrants crossing the southern border from Mexico to the U.S., Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced plans to send 1,000 Texas National Guard servicemembers to the border to help secure the territory, according to Texas newspaper the Monitor.
The Monitor quotes Sen. Juan Hinjosa, saying Perry will reveal plans to send 1,000 troops at a cost of $12 million per month at a news conference July 21. The article continues to attribute more information to a memo that was given to the Monitor by an official who requested to remain anonymous.
Thousands of fleeing children
The report comes after a wave of controversy surrounding about 2,500 fleeing foreign children that have entered the U.S. hoping to find asylum, according to Military Times. Those children are attempting to escape dangerous and violent regions in El Salvador, Honduras and other locations. Now, thousands of them are being held on three Defense Department installations including Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas; Naval Base Ventura County, California; and Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
A move long in the making
Gov. Perry reportedly spoke about Texas securing the national border itself at a recent Republican barbecue in Iowa, according to The Washington Post.
"If the federal government does not do its constitutional duty to secure the Southern border of the United States, the state of Texas will do it," Perry said at the event.
Aside from this action, the governor also called on President Barack Obama to send 1,000 additional troops to the border in a June 11 editorial, according to Military Times. Reportedly, the governor wanted additional servicemembers protecting the border until more border patrol officials could be hired, trained and dispatched to protect against waves of undocumented foreigners.
In a Fox News Sunday report, Perry said that fleeing children could be taking attention away from other more dangerous foreigners, such as members of drug cartels.
Just over a dozen soldiers from the South Carolina National Guard spent last month rolling up their sleeves with the Colombian army, helping foreign soldiers learn to maintain and repair military equipment, according to The Associated Press.
Fifteen soldiers from the Guard's 742nd Support Maintenance Company, based out of the McCrady Training Center at Fort Jackson in Columbia, helped Colombian soldiers by using their smartphones and older technical journals to fix and help upkeep everything from night vision goggles and small caliber weapons to armored vehicles. It was the second time the mechanic unit of soldiers from South Carolina trekked to South American nations to provide help and support. This time, the soldiers stopped in Melgar, a city just 60 miles outside of Bogota, the capitol city of Colombia.
It is all part of the State Partnership Program put together by the National Guard, which has been operating for over 20 years, according to a description on the military group's website. During that time, the program has brought soldiers to 74 different countries and facilitated 68 partnerships with friendly nations. The cooperation helps support defense of security goals and forges relationships with foreign allies through a mutually beneficial relationship, according to the National Guard. It also helps Colombian forces maintain work patterns and repair systems that help keep their equipment ready and reliable.
Working through cultural barriers
The experience took National Guard soldiers out of their element in many different ways. For one, military hardware is cycled to troops at the front lines in a way that's different from what U.S. soldiers were accustomed to. While maintenance soldiers are deployed with combat units in the U.S. to explain functional details about the equipment they have serviced to soldiers in combat scenarios, Colombian soldiers fix gear so it can be sent to the front lines, leaving less opportunity for debriefing and more leeway to future mechanical failures.
Additionally, members of the National Guard often had to work through language barriers with Colombian troops and with Colombian equipment manuals. The former language barrier between soldiers was overcome through the use of Spanish-English smartphone translation applications, one of the soldiers told the AP. The manuals, on the other hand, had to be translated at times, but often the National Guard soldiers could look at the graphics on the page in order to understand what to do. The US mechanics had less trouble working with Colombian technology as it was very similar to American hardware, according to a Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System article written by Maj. Cindi King.
Working with wounded warriors
According to accounts from the National Guard soldiers, it was also motivating to work with some of the troops who had been injured in combat. The Colombian wounded warriors were assigned maintenance duty as part of their rehabilitation process. Despite recovery challenges, US forces called the Colombian troops hardworking.
Within the past year, members of the Colombian military have also visited South Carolina to see helicopters flown by the National Guard as part of the partnership program.
The 2013 Boston Marathon will not be forgotten by the city's residents or the community at large, and as organizers prepare for the 2014 race, some well-meaning participants are being left out.
As expected, a higher level of security will permeate all aspects of this year's race. CNN reported that the Boston Athletic Association has already banned backpacks, handbags, suitcases, large signs and unregistered runners from areas in or around the race course. The event is expected to draw double the amount of spectators and has already capped out entrants at 36,000 – a full 9,000 more runners than the 2013 event.
However, due to the restrictions on large bags and unregistered participants, a military group known as Tough Ruck that walks the 26.2-mile course with fully loaded military backpacks in memory of fallen soldiers will not be allowed to run the 2014 Boston Marathon.
Tough luck
According to Military.com, Tough Ruck founder Stephen Fiola found himself in an unusual situation when the heightened security measures were announced by the BAA. Fiola was at the finish line when the explosions occurred in 2013 and helped runners to medical tents.
"My first reaction was of course disappointment, but I understand that there are safety and security concerns," Fiola told Military.com. "We knew that there were concerns, but we did not know that a policy was going to come out prior to the BAA announcement."
Fiola, a current National Guardsman, said that just like the participants and spectators of the 2014 marathon, prospective Ruckers skyrocketed as well. No more than 30 soldiers and others looking to give back during life after service signed up to walk the course last year, but Fiola had already received 746 applications from servicemembers interested in the race this spring.
Sneaking into the race
Because soldiers in Tough Ruck do not officially register to run the Boston Marathon, they are part of a much longer tradition of "bandit runners," or participants who race without official measurements of their time. Bandit runners have always been part of the popular event that draws an increased number of registrants every year, and their amateur spirit has kept stringent attempts to prohibit them from the course off their backs.
Fiola and his fellow Tough Ruck members do not plan on fighting the BAA's restrictions. Instead, they have already scheduled to hike 26.2 miles of the Minuteman Trail that runs through the Greater Boston Area.
Fiola told Military.com that for the fallen soldiers they honor, where Tough Ruck marches is less important than that they march at all.
When Winter Storm Leon rolled across the southeast U.S., dropping ice and two and a half inches of snow in some places, many residents of perennially snowy northern states were confused by meteorologists calling it a major storm. But after grid-locked highways and thousands of stranded commuters, it's hard to call it anything other than a significant event.
The situation was so dire in South Carolina, the Army wrote, that the National Guard was mobilized to help motorists who had skidded off the road and even to get rolled-over tractor trailers back on the ground. The South Carolina guard deployed across the state in Humvees and an all-purpose, 10-ton vehicle called a wrecker that was used to right a capsized 18-wheeler.
Georgia had to call on its contingent of National Guardsmen as well when the storm caused such gridlock around Atlanta that commuters abandoned their cars on the road for the night, some even seeking refuge inside convenience stores on the side of the highway, NBC News reported.
Tim Dougherty is a regular commuter in the Atlanta area, but after a day on the roads, he barely made it out of the city when the storm hit.
"What took me 30 minutes [Tuesday] morning took me 26 hours to get back," he said.
Weather.com reports that at least a dozen deaths have been attributed to the storm's effects.
All National Guards are now processing military benefits for servicemembers who are in same-sex marriages under a directive issued by the Pentagon, The Washington Post reported.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made the announcement Dec. 13, about five months after he made the initial policy change that enabled same-sex military spouses to receive entitlements such as military identification cards and survivors benefits.
"All of DOD is committed to pursuing equal opportunities for all who serve this nation, and I will continue to work to ensure our men and women in uniform as well as their families have full and equal access to the benefits they deserve," Hagel said, as quoted by the news source.
Several states resisted processing the military benefits for the spouses of gay servicemembers because of their laws regarding same-sex marriages, according to the news source. The National Guard forces in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia forced same-sex military couples to travel to federal installations to receive the benefits, even though the initial directive from the Pentagon mandated that state offices grant these entitlements.
The Washington Post previously reported that defense officials began working with officials from these hold-out states in late October to strike a deal that would grant same-sex servicemembers their entitlements without conflicting with each state's bans on recognizing gay marriage.
Despite a state ban on recognizing same-sex marriage, the Louisiana National Guard will begin processing applications for military benefits for its servicemembers who are in same-sex relationships.
According to The Washington Post, officials from the Louisiana National Guard devised a plan with the Department of Defense last week that allows servicemembers to receive their eligible benefits without conflicting with the state's laws. National Guard members who want to apply for the entitlements, which include military identification cards for their spouses and survivor benefits, will be temporarily placed on a federal status by the National Guard Bureau. Federal employees will then undertake the enrollment of the benefits. However, servicemembers will be able to apply for the benefits at Louisiana National Guard offices instead of federal installations.
"State officials will still follow the state constitution as we always have. We have worked with the Department of Defense and the National Guard Bureau to help them come up with a federal solution to their federal program," National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Kazmierzak told The Associated Press.
The state's change of policy for military spousal benefits comes just a few weeks after the Texas Military Forces created a similar measure for its National Guard members. According to The Washington Post, Georgia and Mississippi are the only states that are still resisting the directive from the Pentagon, which stated that all servicemembers in same-sex marriages must be able to apply and receive these spousal rewards.
After resisting for several months, the Texas Military Forces, which include the Texas National Guard and Reserves, announced Nov. 26 that it will allow servicemembers who are currently in same-sex marriages to apply for dependent benefits.
"We look forward to having the ability to process the benefits our service members and their families are entitled to," Lt. Col. Joanne MacGregor, the state public affairs officer, said in a statement.
The new directive from the Texas Military Forces ensures that same-sex military couples will receive their spousal benefits by partnering with the Department of Defense, which will provide the funding, personnel and equipment required for processing the applications. This way, no member of the Texas National Guard has to be involved, nor will it violate the state's constitution, which does not recognize same-sex marriage.
According to The Washington Post, the Texas Military Forces has been refusing to process the dependent benefits applications from its gay servicemembers since Sept. 3, when the new rules were enacted nationwide. The shift in policy was announced by the Pentagon last August, not long after the Supreme Court struck down a provision of the Defense of Marriage Act that blocked married gay couples from being recognized by federal agencies. Under the new rules, same-sex military couples can receive military identification cards, survivors benefits and other entitlements.
Although the Department of Defense changed its policy last summer regarding spousal benefits for same-sex military couples, the National Guard and Reserves in several states have been resistant to adopt the new system. The Texas National Guard, for instance, has refused to provide the benefits, which include military photo identification and survivor assistance, to its gay servicemembers since last September, when the DOD first enacted the rewards. Now, The Washington Post reported that the Guard is continuing to defy the Pentagon, denying its members in same-sex relationships military housing allowance.
According to the news source, the Texas Military Force – which includes the state's National Guard – is not processing the paperwork of same-sex couples needing military housing allowance at their state offices. Instead, same-sex military couples are being forced to travel to a federal office to have their paperwork processed.
"By refusing to treat same-gender military couples equally, the Texas Military Forces … is creating a hostile climate of discrimination and has sent a strong message that Department of Defense policies and direct orders by the secretary of defense will not be followed," Stephen Peters, president of the American Military Partner Association, told the news source.
Basic allowance for housing – also known as BAH – is granted to uniformed servicemembers so that they can afford shelter where they live, Military.com states. The allowance is based on the market prices for civilian homes and apartments, and also factors in renter's insurance and cost of utilities. According to the website, the allowance typically varies from region to region.
The fight over full military benefits for National Guard members in same-sex relationships continues despite the Department of Defense's shift in policy last July. Oklahoma just became the latest state to block military benefits to its gay Guard members on the grounds that it violates its state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, the Associated Press reports.
As the Sooner State joins Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi in the legal fight against military benefits for same-sex Guard members, ABC News looked into whether the blockades work or simply create a nuisance for Guard members.
According to the news source, DoD officials insist that same-sex servicemembers can still receive their benefits regardless of state law.
"All federal military installations (in Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Louisiana) will issue IDs to all those who provide a valid marriage certificate from a jurisdiction that recognizes same-sex marriage," Pentagon spokesman Nathan Christensen told the news source.
However, the news outlet reports that same-sex military couples are forced to travel longer distances to obtain their promised benefits. For example, Texas National Guard spouse Alicia Butler told ABC News that she will have to drive 120 miles round-trip to a federal military installation – a trip she can not make with her current job and 6-month-old child.
"This is an ominous signal Texas is giving," Butler said.
As several states with same-sex marriage bans currently fight the Department of Defense's new policy to include same-sex couples in its spousal benefits, one Midwestern state has decided to turn the tide.
Members of the Missouri National Guard who are currently in same-sex relationships can now receive equal military benefits, despite the state's constitutional ban on gay marriage, the Riverfront Times reports.
"We're just following guidance from the Department of Defense," Missouri National Guard spokesman 1st Lt. John Quin told the news source, adding that the state's same-sex marriage ban was not taken into consideration by the guard because its benefits program falls under the federal system.
The DoD's spousal policy shift occurred in July, following the landmark Supreme Court decision that struck down a provision of the Defense of Marriage Act that blocked federal agencies from recognizing same-sex couples. Under the new rules, same-sex military and National Guard couples are eligible for various assistance programs such as military healthcare, Social Security and survivor benefits, as well as military identification cards allowing access to bases and their facilities.
While Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has yet to speak on this issue, the governors of nearby states Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi – all of which have a constitutional law banning gay marriage – have blocked their same-sex couple guards members from receiving these benefits. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin was the latest state leader to cease the processing of same-sex couple benefits, according to The Associated Press.