![National Guard soldier stationed at border dies in accidental shooting as 'morale crisis' hits force](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2021/08/AP21229769549815.jpg)
National Guard soldier stationed at border dies in accidental shooting as 'morale crisis' hits force
Fox News
A Texas National Guard soldier participating in Operation Lone Star at the Texas border with Mexico shot and killed himself in an alcohol-related accident, part of a wave of accidents and suicides that have plagued the border mission
The incidents come as approximately 10,000 members of the Texas National Guard and Texas State Guard have faced a growing morale crisis while on involuntary activations at the border with Mexico, prompting the Joint Task Force Lone Star’s chaplains to launch a force-wide "morale survey" earlier this week.
Units assigned to the border mission have seen a wave of suspected suicides in recent months, with the Army Times reporting that four soldiers are suspected of committing suicide between November and December of last year.