H.R. No. 239R E S O L U T I O N WHEREAS, It is indeed a privilege to welcome home the members of the 136th Airlift Wing and to honor these heroic individuals for their efforts in support of Operation Noble Eagle, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom; and WHEREAS, A component of the Texas Air National Guard, the 136th Airlift Wing is one of three flying units within the Texas Air National Guard; the unit, which includes some 980 highly trained personnel, joins active duty forces during wartime and serves the State of Texas during peacetime; and WHEREAS, These dedicated men and women have provided vital airlift support to deployed troops in the Persian Gulf region, including airland and airdrop delivery of cargo and personnel to various countries in that region; the wing flies and maintains eight C-130H aircraft, an all-purpose vehicle, cargo, and personnel transport; and WHEREAS, The 136th Airlift Wing recently exceeded 150,000 flying hours without a Class A mishap, an achievement that dates back to 1965; despite logging 6,000 flight hours over the past year--double the normal annual number of hours--the unit has flown more than 2,100 sorties without a maintenance cancellation; and WHEREAS, The men and women of our armed forces truly deserve our deepest thanks and gratitude for their role in protecting and preserving the freedoms that we hold dear, and the efforts of the 136th Airlift Wing and the Lone Star State's other military units are indeed inspirational; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 78th Texas Legislature, 3rd Called Session, hereby commend the members of the 136th Airlift Wing for their participation in operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom and honor them for their continued commitment to protecting the citizens of the United States of America. Zedler Craddick Geren Mercer Allen Giddings Merritt Alonzo Goodman Miller Bailey Goolsby Moreno of Harris Baxter Griggs Moreno of El Paso Berman Grusendorf Morrison Bohac Guillen Mowery Bonnen Gutierrez Naishtat Branch Haggerty Nixon Brown of Kaufman Hamilton Noriega Brown of Brazos Hamric Oliveira Burnam Hardcastle Olivo Callegari Harper-Brown Paxton Campbell Hartnett Pena Canales Heflin Phillips Capelo Hegar Pickett Casteel Hilderbran Pitts Castro Hill Puente Chavez Hochberg Quintanilla Chisum Hodge Raymond Christian Homer Reyna Coleman Hope Riddle Cook of Navarro Hopson Ritter Cook of Colorado Howard Rodriguez Corte Hughes Rose Crabb Hunter Seaman Crownover Hupp Smith of Tarrant Davis of Harris Isett Smith of Harris Davis of Dallas Jones of Lubbock Smithee Dawson Jones of Bexar Solis Delisi Jones of Dallas Solomons Denny Keel Stick Deshotel Keffer of Dallas Swinford Driver Keffer of Eastland Talton Dukes King Taylor Dunnam Kolkhorst Telford Dutton Krusee Thompson Edwards Kuempel Truitt Eiland Laney Turner Eissler Laubenberg Uresti Elkins Lewis Van Arsdale Ellis Luna Villarreal Escobar Mabry West Farabee Madden Wilson Farrar Marchant Wise Flores Martinez Fischer Wohlgemuth Flynn McCall Wolens Gallego McClendon Wong Garza McReynolds Woolley Gattis Menendez Zedler ______________________________ Speaker of the House I certify that H.R. No. 239 was adopted by the House on October 2, 2003, by a non-record vote. ______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House