Texas National Guard

Stupid Legislature Trick: The Texas Legislature is trying to lure David Letterman to Austin. The House of Representatives borrowed Letterman's Top 10 list gimmick, and came up with a resolution that listed the reasons why Letterman should do a show in Austin. Reason No. 4: The Texas National Guard has agreed to keep Cher and Shirley MacLaine outside the city limits during Mr. Letterman's stay, using excessive force if necessary." The No.

WEST, Texas -- Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday called for the prayers of all Americans as he described “a nightmare scenario” in this small town where a fertilizer plant explosion injured about 160 and killed an unknown number in a blast so powerful houses were knocked from foundations. Earlier Thursday, officials estimated that between five and 15 people had been killed, including first responders. But Perry said he "was not comfortable" releasing the number of dead as search and rescue operations were underway.

The Texas National Guard couldn't do it in 25 tries, but a husky Mississippi National Guard helicopter came to the rescue and set the 3,000-pound Goddess of Liberty statue on top of the Texas Capitol. A crowd estimated by Austin police at 6,000 cheered as a "Sky Crane" helicopter flown in from Mississippi eased the new aluminum statue onto its 300-foot-high perch on a pole atop the Capitol dome. The new statue is a copy of the weather-beaten zinc original, which had become a safety hazard.

Six soldiers deployed to the Mexican border to keep out illegal immigrants became U.S. citizens Friday. The six members of the Texas National Guard were aiding the Border Patrol. Pfc. Fabiola Jimenez, 23, who came to the U.S. legally with her family when she was a teenager, said she had joined the National Guard in part because she knew it would expedite her citizenship application. Citizenship will allow Jimenez to get a government job and enable her to sponsor relatives seeking citizenship.

More than a week after a court-imposed deadline to turn over all records of President Bush's military service, the Texas Air National Guard belatedly produced two documents Tuesday that include Bush's orders for his last day of active duty in 1973. The orders show Bush was on "no-fly" status for his last days of duty because he had been grounded almost a year earlier for skipping an annual medical exam.

CBS News is expected to tell viewers as early as today that it was misled about the memos that were used in a "60 Minutes" report about President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard.CBS anchor Dan Rather traveled to Texas over the weekend to interview Bill Burkett, a former lieutenant colonel in the Texas National Guard who is said to have had a key role in the network obtaining the documents, which many have argued are fake.

Six soldiers deployed to the Mexican border to keep out illegal immigrants became U.S. citizens Friday. The six members of the Texas National Guard were aiding the Border Patrol. Pfc. Fabiola Jimenez, 23, who came to the U.S. legally with her family when she was a teenager, said she had joined the National Guard in part because she knew it would expedite her citizenship application. Citizenship will allow Jimenez to get a government job and enable her to sponsor relatives seeking citizenship.

A retired Texas National Guard official mentioned as a possible source for disputed documents about President Bush's service in the Guard said he passed along information to a former senator working with John F. Kerry's campaign. In an Aug. 21 e-mail to a list of Texas Democrats, Bill Burkett said that after getting through "seven layers of bureaucratic kids" in the Democrat's campaign, he talked with former Georgia Sen.

Until recently, Bill Burkett led an anonymous -- some say reclusive -- life on a small ranch outside the tiny town of Baird in the flatlands of West Texas. Now that he has emerged as a possible source for disputed documents about President Bush's service in the National Guard, Burkett has arguably become the most well-known person in rural Callahan County. Besieged by reporters, he has retreated behind the iron gates of his ranch, east of Abilene, and has been refusing interviews.

WEST, Texas -- Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday called for the prayers of all Americans as he described “a nightmare scenario” in this small town where a fertilizer plant explosion injured about 160 and killed an unknown number in a blast so powerful houses were knocked from foundations. Earlier Thursday, officials estimated that between five and 15 people had been killed, including first responders. But Perry said he "was not comfortable" releasing the number of dead as search and rescue operations were underway.

Not far from the ranch where President Bush is spending the holidays, the impact of the war in Iraq is being driven home in this city of 113,000. In the biggest single call-up of the Texas National Guard since World War II, 3,300 citizen-soldiers are preparing to ship out for a year of combat duty in Iraq, the largest contingent to date that the state has sent there. On Thursday, members of the 56th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, and 18,000 of their relatives and friends began converging on Waco for a grand send-off.

More than a week after a court-imposed deadline to turn over all records of President Bush's military service, the Texas Air National Guard belatedly produced two documents Tuesday that include Bush's orders for his last day of active duty in 1973. The orders show Bush was on "no-fly" status for his last days of duty because he had been grounded almost a year earlier for skipping an annual medical exam.

Until recently, Bill Burkett led an anonymous -- some say reclusive -- life on a small ranch outside the tiny town of Baird in the flatlands of West Texas. Now that he has emerged as a possible source for disputed documents about President Bush's service in the National Guard, Burkett has arguably become the most well-known person in rural Callahan County. Besieged by reporters, he has retreated behind the iron gates of his ranch, east of Abilene, and has been refusing interviews.

CBS News is expected to tell viewers as early as today that it was misled about the memos that were used in a "60 Minutes" report about President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard.CBS anchor Dan Rather traveled to Texas over the weekend to interview Bill Burkett, a former lieutenant colonel in the Texas National Guard who is said to have had a key role in the network obtaining the documents, which many have argued are fake.

A retired Texas National Guard official mentioned as a possible source for disputed documents about President Bush's service in the Guard said he passed along information to a former senator working with John F. Kerry's campaign. In an Aug. 21 e-mail to a list of Texas Democrats, Bill Burkett said that after getting through "seven layers of bureaucratic kids" in the Democrat's campaign, he talked with former Georgia Sen.

President Bush's father told an Air Force major general that his son was a "gung ho" military man and predicted "he will make a good pilot as well," according to documents released Friday by the Pentagon. The elder Bush's praise came in a letter written to Maj. Gen. G.B. Greene Jr., who in 1968 commanded the military training center in San Antonio where the younger Bush was undergoing basic training.

President Bush on Saturday described Sen. John F. Kerry's tour of duty in Vietnam as more heroic than his own service in the Texas Air National Guard, saying his Democratic rival had been "in harm's way." But the president told NBC's "Today" show that both sides should drop the debate over their wartime service. "I think that we ought to move beyond the past.... The real question is who best to lead us forward."

Democratic presidential nominee Michael S. Dukakis and his running mate, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, on Monday rebutted Republican counterattacks about their relationships with the military services. Dukakis, speaking to reporters after a ceremony honoring a housing program here, angrily responded to a Republican congressman's charge that he had used student deferments to avoid military service during the Korean War and said: "I served my country proudly."

President Bush on Saturday described Sen. John F. Kerry's tour of duty in Vietnam as more heroic than his own service in the Texas Air National Guard, saying his Democratic rival had been "in harm's way." But the president told NBC's "Today" show that both sides should drop the debate over their wartime service. "I think that we ought to move beyond the past.... The real question is who best to lead us forward."

Sailors and soldiers working together. What a concept! With the eyes of Texas and the White House upon them, infantry troops of the Texas Army National Guard on Thursday lifted off from this massive Navy ship in Army helicopters to mount a mock assault on the military-owned island off the Southern California coast. The exercise, which began Sunday, is part of an effort by the Bush administration to break down the interservice rivalry and incompatibility that has plagued the U.S.