Missouri National Guard

Near Eagle Pass, Texas, on Wednesday, the Missouri governor and top general of the Missouri National Guard touted the bill, which funds the deployment for 200 troops and 22 highway patrol officers.

The bill still needs the approval of the Senate.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced a plan Tuesday to add 200 Missouri National Guard members and 22 state highway patrol troopers to the 250 guardsmen already deployed to southern border by next month.

The Great War depleted the states’ National Guard troops, sending them overseas. Missouri was one of the states that backfilled the domestic duties with unpaid volunteers.

The establishment of the new department comes after nearly 50 years of the Missouri National Guard being part of the Department of Public Safety.

Missouri voters are being asked to decide whether the state’s National Guard should be its own department.

The celebration in Waynesville emphasized public service and honor by joining the armed forces.

State and local health officials, the National Guard and volunteers gave nearly 3,500 residents the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine at St. Louis Community College-Forest Park on Thursday. The vaccine distribution was one of several state-run events being held in the region through the weekend.

Vaccine doses have been so scarce near St. Louis that many area residents desperate for a shot have started traveling to rural parts of the state to find one.

There will be nine National Guard teams deployed throughout the state, one for each of Missouri’s Highway Patrol regions, and each team can vaccinate up to 2,500 people per day depending on supply.