[SaintGhurka]

I joined the Texas State Guard and found a lasting connection with my group. When I'm there I feel like I'm with family.

About half the states have a state guard. The organizational structure is military-ish, but we don't have weapons. We wear essentially the same uniform as the national guard, and sometimes work with them, but it's not related to the national guard except that we both report to the governor. The difference is the state guard ONLY reports to the governor and doesn't have any federal connection.

Since I joined I've helped run a shelter after hurricane Harvey and run water distribution centers after the freeze 2 years ago. But most of the time I just do the same thing I do at my regular job.

When I joined they needed programmers. They need everybody, tbh. It's not hard to qualify.

[MichaelNolan]

> When I joined they needed programmers.

How did that work? Unless there is a deployment, the schedule is one weekend a month right? What kind of tech work were you able to do in that timeframe?

You mentioned working in a shelter as well during Harvey. How often were you called into service? It looks likes the number of whether related missions has increased in recent years - https://tmd.texas.gov/texas-state-guard-missions

I just moved to Austin and the idea of joining a state guard is appealing.

[SaintGhurka]

> Unless there is a deployment, the schedule is one weekend a month right?

Yes and no. I do a lot of work at home. I mostly work on our home-grown software that manages the organization (recruiting and personnel management).

> How often were you called into service?

In 6 years I've been called out by the governor twice on big missions (1 hurricane and 1 freeze). But I've also had a handful of other deployments that were more like "we need a volunteer to come to HQ for a week". I once got "deployed" for 2 days to drive some computers from Austin down to the border. I try to take those tasks occasionally if my job can spare me.

The drill weekends are unpaid, but you get paid for any deployment. All deployments are voluntary, but you are expected to be available if a big disaster strikes.

> I just moved to Austin

Headquarters is at Camp Mabry in Austin. Building 32.