thedrifter
02-09-06, 06:23 PM
February 09, 2006
Texas lawmaker to deploy
Times staff
A member of the Texas State Legislature is slated to deploy to Iraq this month for a seven-month stint as the operations officer of the Corps’ 3rd Civil Affairs Group.
State Rep. and Reserve Marine Col. Frank Corte Jr. was activated in January and has been training at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and in Qatar to prepare for the deployment. While on pre-deployment leave in San Antonio Feb. 2, he announced that he will turn his House seat over to his wife, Valerie, for the time he is deployed.
“As a Marine, this is what I signed up to do,” said Cortes, R-San Antonio, according to a Feb. 2 Associated Press report. “And as an individual, the possibility to contribute so vitally to this effort in Iraq makes me passionate about this call. I will serve this role with great vigor and steadfastness.”
A state constitutional amendment approved in 2003 allows lawmakers who are called to active duty to designate their replacement until they return or their term expires.
Corte will be the second Texas state legislator deployed to a Middle East war zone in the past two years.
Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, returned in August after a year in Afghanistan with the Texas National Guard.
Corte is up for re-election during his deployment and said his aides and others will oversee his campaign while he’s gone, according to the report.
Corte said 3rd CAG’s mission will be to act as an intermediary between Iraqi civilian leaders and U.S. commanders as that nation works to develop policies on economic development, property rights and other governmental issues, according to the report.
Ellie
Texas lawmaker to deploy
Times staff
A member of the Texas State Legislature is slated to deploy to Iraq this month for a seven-month stint as the operations officer of the Corps’ 3rd Civil Affairs Group.
State Rep. and Reserve Marine Col. Frank Corte Jr. was activated in January and has been training at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and in Qatar to prepare for the deployment. While on pre-deployment leave in San Antonio Feb. 2, he announced that he will turn his House seat over to his wife, Valerie, for the time he is deployed.
“As a Marine, this is what I signed up to do,” said Cortes, R-San Antonio, according to a Feb. 2 Associated Press report. “And as an individual, the possibility to contribute so vitally to this effort in Iraq makes me passionate about this call. I will serve this role with great vigor and steadfastness.”
A state constitutional amendment approved in 2003 allows lawmakers who are called to active duty to designate their replacement until they return or their term expires.
Corte will be the second Texas state legislator deployed to a Middle East war zone in the past two years.
Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, returned in August after a year in Afghanistan with the Texas National Guard.
Corte is up for re-election during his deployment and said his aides and others will oversee his campaign while he’s gone, according to the report.
Corte said 3rd CAG’s mission will be to act as an intermediary between Iraqi civilian leaders and U.S. commanders as that nation works to develop policies on economic development, property rights and other governmental issues, according to the report.
Ellie