Items

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  11/10/2020

  Oral History of a Teacher, Wife, and Mother - Helen Farrar

  Oral History of Teacher, Wife, and Mother, Helen Farrar about her experience during the pandemic while her husband was activated on the COVID-19 Relief Mission with the Texas Army National Guard.
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  11/03/2020

  Peter Bain Oral History, 2020/11/03

  An interview of Texas Army National Guardsman Peter Bain who served on both the COVID-19 Relief Mission and the Civil Unrest Mission during the summer of 2020.
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  2020-07-14

  Grandfather, Son, and Granddaughter Reunited at Last

  While serving with the Texas Army National Guard on the COVID-19 Relief Mission in Houston, TX, Josh Farrar was visited by his parents, wife, and daughters when he was given a day off by his Commander. In order to get outside, they all went to the park. This video is of the granddaughter and grandfather playing on a slide while the father (Josh Farrar) interacts with his dad. This video is important as it shows an extended family interacting during the pandemic in an outside venue while a family member is supporting the COVID-19 Relief Mission. This day was very supportive and therapeutic for the Soldier after months dealing with COVID-19 testing.
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  2020-06-25

  Coming Off Orders

  I served on the COVID-19 Relief Mission for 93 days with the Texas Army National Guard. The attached orders and email detail my timeline on the mission and my preparation in late June to come off orders by my end date of 18 July 2020. I will not give any more details than that when it concerns orders or paperwork for orders in this public forum. I just wanted to add to military and National Guard perspective of this story as thousands of National Guardsman served on the COVID-19 Relief Mission. In Texas, the same rules applied to this mission as to an OCONUS deployment in terms of leaving mission. The orders were also longer than 90 days for most Soldiers which allowed them to earn 50% Post 9/11 G.I. Bill College Benefits if they had never served on Active Duty Orders (outside of training) before.
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  2020-04-17

  Student, Instructor, Soldier: Leaving to Help With the COVID-19 Pandemic

  During Spring of 2020, I was wearing many hats. I was a 1st Lieutenant in the Texas Army National Guard, a husband, a father of two girls, a PhD student, a research assistant for the department chair of the Texas A&M Anthropology Department, and an Anthropology Instructor at Blinn College. Everything changed on April 17th, 2020 when I was activated with the National Guard on 45 day orders starting at 0800 on April 18th. I packed my bags, told my kids and wife goodbye, and sent emails to my supervisors at Blinn College and Texas A&M University. Two of the emails featured here are the emails that I sent to my supervisors. My orders were initially for 45 days but were later extended to 93 days in total. I sent updates to my supervisors as I learned new information. One update email to Dr. De Ruiter at Texas A&M University is featured in this email collection as well. This is my third activation with the National Guard in the past three years. I have been called to floods, hurricanes, and now a pandemic. Serving the people of the State of Texas is never boring, but it can be difficult on the family and jobs that I leave behind. I hope these emails speak to that struggle.
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  2020-04-29

  Expert Opinion

  This photograph is taken in Houston, TX as part of a news conference with Rep. Al Green and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. On 29 April 2020, the city of Houston staged a news conference at a COVID-19 testing site run by the National Guard in Houston, TX. At the end of the conference, LTC English (who is a Nurse Practitioner and Texas Army National Guard Senior Medical Advisor) was interviewed for his opinion on public health and safety during the pandemic.
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  2020-05-09

  Graduating in the Age of COVID-19

  I graduated from Texas A&M with my PhD in Anthropology in May 2020. The graduation was in early May. I had defended my dissertation in late January and was working as a graduate assistant at Texas A&M and as an instructor at Blinn College when the COVID-19 came to Texas in March 2020. My jobs went online for a month, then I was activated with the National Guard on 18April2020. In this photograph from early May, I am attending my remote graduation ceremony from my workspace at the Region 6 COIVD-19 Response headquarters in Houston, TX.