Midland Jokes
Jade Helm 15 ends next week, and it had an unanticipated consequence.
Through a Freedom of Information request, the folks at Gawker learned that after Texas Governor Greg Abbott played to the sympathies of conservative conspiracy theorists by ordering the Texas State Guard to "monitor" the routine military exercise, the guard saw an increase in recruitment.
Yup.
First off, through a whole bunch of emails gathered by Gawker, it appears that the state guard had no idea what its mission would be, which is funny.
But they soon learned that Jade Helm craziness was a fantastic public relations opportunity that boosted interest in people looking to enlist.
In a message dated April 30th — two days after Gov. Abbott’s statement — Texas State Guard recruiter David Childers described a “substantial increase in interest apparently due to the Jade Helm announcement”
Unfortunately, a number of interested parties were just interested in toting guns to defend the south from a non-existent threat.
As far as we can tell, opportunistic recruitment efforts by the state have been the only result of the federal invasion of Texas.
But, hey, there's still a few days left.
