I'd like to be a fly on the wall when some of these guys get together.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 82008.html

Jan. 18, 2007, 10:59PM
Border officers discuss strategy
Meeting gives commanders a chance to share information


Associated Press

EL PASO — National Guard commanders leading nearly 6,000 soldiers deployed to the U.S. border with Mexico met in Austin on Thursday for the first time since President Bush ordered the troops to the border as part of Operation Jump Start.

The two-day meeting, which started Thursday, will give ground commanders from all four border states their first chance to share their experiences and trade stories face-to-face about what strategies have worked and what haven't.

"What we've pretty much determined is that we are all doing things pretty much the same way," Texas Army National Guard Col. Robert Canon said by telephone.

Canon said National Guard officials planned to share everything from how each state was housing deployed soldiers to how they were being used to help the U.S. Border Patrol.

By Thursday afternoon the field commanders had also discussed a recent incident in Arizona in which a group of armed men approached a National Guard position in the middle of the night. The U.S. soldiers, who were armed, moved to a position further from the border and did not confront the men, who later retreated into Mexico.

Canon said based on information he has received about the incident, the soldiers did exactly as they were trained and that incident is now likely to be a training model for other soldiers at the border.

Col. Kevin Ellsworth of the California Army National Guard said some of the details couldn't be released.

The National Guard officials hope to begin meeting on a quarterly basis.