At least 17 Texas National Guard members have died while deployed on the state’s three-year-old mission to deter criminal activity at the U.S. border with Mexico, according to state military officials.

Of those, the families of four service members received the newly authorized $500,000 death benefit and six families are waiting for a determination on whether they are eligible for the money. The remaining cases were denied the benefit or the service member had no eligible relative to receive the money.

The Texas Military Department has been tightlipped about troops serving at the border, though how many troops have died in connection to the mission came out during a hearing last week of the Texas House Committee on Defense and Veterans’ Affairs. Members heard from state officials regarding implementation of a new law to provide death benefits for troops who die while on state missions.

Read more at: https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-08-27/texas-national-guard-death-benefits-border-mission-14993111.html Source - Stars and Stripes

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20240829114658/https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-08-27/texas-national-guard-death-benefits-border-mission-14993111.html

  • Billiam@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Two other soldiers died in a traffic accident in Laredo — one in the accident and the other by suicide in the minutes after the crash

    What the actual fuck?

    • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
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      3 months ago

      Murder/Suicide, right? And the Guard doesn’t want to admit the murder part, so Suicide guy just accidentally rammed his Charger into the other person’s car at 50 mph in a parking lot.

      • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        Found a different story:

        A 27-year-old guardsman is driving a Ford F150 just before 2 AM on the highway. The truck rolls over. The 27-year-old passenger guardsman is ejected(?) (“thrown off from the truck”). The driver performs CPR on the passenger unsuccessfully. The driver dies by suicide.