SAN ANTONIO – Around 2,000 people from multiple agencies have been deployed in the search effort in Kerr County, but a volunteer group named Team Josey is also assisting in the search.<\/p>\n
The group is named after Texas State Representative Josey Garcia. She told us veterans played a big part in the recovery effort, and their team has worked so hard on.<\/p>\n
Their volunteers poked through debris piles that litter the banks and water, while divers took their searches underwater.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a physical challenge,” Dario Hernandez, Chief of Operations with Team Josey, said.<\/p>\n
He says volunteers have answered the call for help from all over the country. \u201cWe’ve had people come from Ohio, New Jersey, California, Florida, you name it,\u201d Hernandez said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey’ve put in a lot of hours, a lot of hours. I’ve seen them working until all hours of the night out here, starting at the daybreak,\u201d Joshua James, a team Josey volunteer said.<\/p>\n
Team Josey team lead Cynthia Cuevas says 300 out of the 1,000 volunteers working out there today are veterans, and many more veterans have helped over the past week. Team Josey cycles in different teams by day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have alternated over five thousand of them absolutely,\u201d said Cuevas.<\/p>\n
And being so close to San Antonio and its military bases played a part in their success. Cuevas says they offered tools to be used for search efforts like sonar.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese guys are experts and have been able to utilize all these tools that have been issued to us,\u201d Cuevas said.<\/p>\n