An Extra-Special Network of Texas Exes Pulls Together

By Tim Taliaferro in Blog on September 9, 2010 at 2:25 pm | 2 Comments

After work took him far from Texas, Capt. Franklin Hopkins, BA ’03, wanted to demonstrate how what starts here continues to change the world.

So the Army JAG, who works on the military’s Camp Victory base in Iraq, formed the first-ever Texas Exes Baghdad Network in February. That’s when III Corps started its yearlong deployment from Fort Hood.

Here, Hopkins (right) poses with Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, MA ’87, deputy commanding general for operations for the U.S. forces in Iraq. (The men are so busy, Hopkins says, it took months to find the time to snap a picture.)

“It’s great the Texas Exes are all over the military,” Hopkins says. “We thought that providing a photograph taken on the balcony of one of Saddam’s many presidential palaces in Baghdad would help demonstrate to fellow Texas Exes the awesome work that Texas alumni are doing every day while deployed.”

And don’t worry — the troops take a little time out for fun, too. Hopkins says he plans to get a game-watch together for either the OU or Nebraska game — it depends on what time the ball kicks off on the other side of the world.