{"id":22402,"date":"2022-02-24T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/02\/24\/troops-slam-operation-lone-star-in-leaked-survey\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:22:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:22:00","slug":"troops-slam-operation-lone-star-in-leaked-survey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2022\/02\/24\/troops-slam-operation-lone-star-in-leaked-survey\/","title":{"rendered":"Troops slam Operation Lone Star in leaked survey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article is co-published and co-reported with the The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit newsroom that informs Texans about state policy and politics. <\/i>Sign up for The Brief<\/i><\/a>, its daily newsletter.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked in January what they liked about their deployment to the Texas-Mexico border, members of the Texas Air National Guard had few nice things to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hate it here,\u201d one respondent said in an anonymous survey about the involuntary mission with no set end date that has taken as many as 10,000 troops away from their civilian lives and families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another, asked for general feedback, simply posted four middle- finger emojis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frustration, anxiety and anger prevailed in the survey responses obtained by the Military Times and The Texas Tribune. The survey includes responses from nearly 250 members of Task Force South, one of six units that fall under the umbrella of Operation Lone Star \u2014 Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s unprecedentedly large attempt to secure the border with Guard members and state troopers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m wasting time watching the grass grow at my [observation] point [along the border], while my civilian job is dying on the vine,\u201d one Guardsman wrote in response to another question. \u201cIF my job still exists when I return, I will have a giant hole to dig out of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another member, whose husband travels for work, said they\u2019ve had to pay an extra $2,000 each month for a nanny to watch their kids. Yet another worried about the future of a strained marriage after having to leave his wife and new baby behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey responses provide the clearest insights yet into the simmering dissatisfaction among troops stationed at the border. The survey was distributed before the Military Times and Texas Tribune published an investigation<\/a> earlier this month detailing problems with the mission that included hasty mobilization, alarming morale issues, meager living conditions, delays in payment and the perception by troops that the mission was politically motivated to score reelection points for Abbott. Those findings have been consistently denied or downplayed by Texas officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\t