TULSA — A task force comprised of roughly 500 Oklahoma National Guard soldiers slated to head to Texas Tuesday for hurricane relief was first delayed, and then canceled.
Maj. Jeremy Dean Renfrow spoke with KRMG Tuesday, shortly after the delay in the deployment was issued.
He said he didn’t know why they weren’t going, but said they were standing by to carry out the mission as soon as orders came down.
“A little above my pay grade, but if I was a betting man, I would probably bet that there is just too much inflow into the state, and they just want to slow it down a little bit to make sure they get everyone where they want them,” he said.
And it’s Texas’ call, since they’re the ones asking for the help, and also receiving the federal funds to pay for it.
“Texas is getting the funds, Oklahoma’s not getting the funds, so they have to work together - Texas says ‘yes, I want soldiers from Oklahoma, and yes we’re gonna pay you the money back.’ There’s a lot involved, so it’s not just cut and dried, somebody says ‘hey, let’s go to Texas’ and we go.”
The plan was to send about 500 soldiers for a deployment estimated to last 45 days.
There are still about 1,000 members of the Oklahoma National Guard and Oklahoma Air National Guard in Texas helping out in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.