Veterans Advocate and USMC Veteran Cyla Srna

We welcome Major Cyla Srna of the Texas State Guard, who will tell us about her Marine Corps service as an Aviation Structural Mechanic and her decision to join Texas’s State Defense Force, where she’s served for the past 12 years. Cyla is also an advocate for women veterans. In 2020, she agreed to enter the Ms. Veteran America competition in order to call attention to the problem of women veterans’ homelessness. Cyla has a deep understanding of the problem, as she’s experienced it herself. We’ll talk about that and about her unique posts in the Texas State Guard, including Emergency Operations during Hurricane Harvey and COVID-19. Cyla will educate us about the Texas State Guard, one of twenty examples of a little-known part of America’s military system: the State Defense Forces (SDFs). Authorized under Title 32 of the U.S. Code and grounded in states’ constitutional authority to maintain militias, SDFs exist alongside the National Guard but cannot be federalized. Their mission is strictly state-focused—responding to natural disasters, public health emergencies, border and infrastructure security, logistics, communications, and community support when governors call. These units are volunteer, uniformed, and trained, often composed of prior-service veterans as well as civilians who want to serve close to home.