The fact is that the victims of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star also stretch beyond the Black and Latino asylum-seekers and migrants who have been cruelly swept up under the border scheme since its inception last March. 

In December, Army Times reported a string of deaths among soldiers tied to the operation. Other reports and lawmaker-led letters have described “chronic underpayment issues,” “lack of proper equipment and sleeping facilities,” and a general question of “What the fuck are we doing here?” Now dozens of current and former soldiers are directly speaking out too.

“Service members say they have struggled with shortages of critical equipment, including cold weather gear, medical equipment and plates for their ballistic vests,” Military Times and The Texas Tribune said in a joint report. Soldiers described living in “cramped” conditions after being pulled away from homes and lives, sometimes at great financial and academic expense.

One part-time senior noncommissioned officer who did not want to give his name out of fear of retaliation said he dreaded getting pulled into the border scheme.

“[H]e owns a small business and he has a son with a disability.” He at first believed he’d lucked out, but was then told to get ready to leave in three days. His deployment meant he had to cancel $60,000 in contracts. Meanwhile, his workers quit. But he said that following “three weeks of sitting on my ass with zero task or purpose,” he was told to go home.

“I didn’t want to get out of bed for a week,” the soldier told Military Times and The Texas Tribune. “I was unemployed … and [I] felt exactly as if [the Texas Military Department] put me there because of their … lack of planning and leadership.”

Others described the severe costs they suffered in academics due to Abbott. “One junior paratrooper shared his frustration over being set back in college again after having to withdraw from his fall semester classes,” the report said. He told Military Times and The Texas Tribune that he’s “like a fifth-year junior [now]. My school took away my financial aid for not making satisfactory academic progress.” 

Army Times previously reported how Texas slashed National Guard benefits to just $1.4 million while also wasting hundreds of millions on the border scheme. It’s money down the toilet—but not the toilets at military stations, because they have no toilets.

“Some say they feel underutilized and rarely see migrants while working isolated observation posts that in some cases lacked portable toilets for months,” Military Times and The Texas Tribune continued. One guard told the outlets that female guards have been forced to go in bushes—“which is degrading”—or get driven to a gas station. 

“Does he ever see migrants?” another soldier is asked. “Nope, not even once,” he told Military Times and The Texas Tribune. “Just people fishing.” 

“When Governor Abbott is in a political jam, he trashes our Texas border and uses Texas soldiers as a campaign backdrop. And our men and women in uniform deserve better and are sick and tired of this treatment,” Texas state Rep. Rafael Anchía recently said. She’s among the state lawmakers urging a federal probe into the scheme. “No American soldier should have to wonder if they will be able to provide for their family or pay rent. We urge the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into Operation Lone Star to protect Texan troops.”

RELATED: Texas House members urge federal investigation of Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star scheme

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