In his latest bout of border grandstanding, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the state is building a new base to house Texas National Guard troops stationed in Eagle Pass as part of Operation Lone Star, his pricy three-year-old crackdown on border crossings.
The new facility, dubbed the “Forward Operating Base,” will house 1,800 to 2,300 soldiers, with the first 300 personnel expected to move in by mid-April, Texas Major Gen. Thomas Suelzer said.
Abbott’s office didn’t immediately respond to the Current’s inquiry about how much the 80-scare facility will run taxpayers. However, Operation Lone Star has run up an $11 billion bill since its launch in March 2021.
“Before this effort here, [troops] had been living in conditions that were atypical for a military operation,” Abbott said during Friday’s press conference in Eagle Pass. “Because of the magnitude of what we’re doing, because of the need to sustain and actually expand our efforts of what we’re doing, it’s essential that we build this base camp for the soldiers.”
Until now, Texas Guard personnel involved in Abbott’s border mission were housed in tents, hotels and even private residences. The announcement of the new facility comes after years of complaints from personnel themselves about the conditions experienced during their deployment.
A 2022 Military Times and the Texas Tribune investigation found that one in five guardsmen reported problems with their pay, shortages of critical equipment and poor living conditions, including cramped trailers and nonexistent toilets. A separate Army Times investigation from 2021 revealed that four guardsmen deployed as part of Operation Lone Star had committed suicide in just two months.
The poor working and living conditions led to the unusual move of the Texas National Guard unionizing. Personnel joined the Texas State Employees Union in 2022.
“This isn’t some politically motivated endeavor; we’re not out just to get Beto O’Rouke elected,” Texas National Guard union member Hunter Schuler told Texas Public Radio at the time. “That’s not why we’re doing this. We want better conditions, and we, you know, most of us want to go home.”
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This article appears in Feb 7-20, 2024.
