| Established in March 2003,in San Antonio, the Texas Medical Rangers is the first Texas statewide Medical Reserve Corps. It is a formal branch of the Texas State Guard and Texas Military Forces. The Texas Medical Rangers is a uniformed, volunteer organization of medical and non-medical personnel who train to assist public health authorities in a natural or man-induced emergency anywhere in the State. This is done at the call of the Governor of Texas. Headquartered at Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas, the Texas Medical Rangers expects to grow to more than 1,000 volunteers and is establishing group and company headquarters at other state-supported Health Science Center campuses and National Guard Armories throughout Texas, including Austin,San Antonio, College Station, Dallas, El Paso, Edinburg, Fort Worth, Galveston, Harlingen, Houston, Laredo, Lubbock, McAllen, Temple, and Tyler. Texas Medical Ranger Groups are organized into multiple medical response teams. The Texas State Guard Medical Brigade (MRC), its official name, was called to active duty by the Governor of Texas for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Also, the units continue to participate in the yearly Operation Lone Star, a joint service mission to provide health care services to populations in the Rio Grande Valley. In 2006, Operation Lone Star Medical Units were commanded by the Commanding General of the Texas Medical Rangers, BG Marshall H. Scantlin. |
