http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=5372826&nav=HMO6

Guard soldiers praise border mission, see few illegal crossings


YUMA, Ariz. Tennessee National Guard members assigned to duty along the U-S-Mexico border say they're amazed how easy it is to get into this country illegally.

By the end of September, 500 Tennessee Guard members will have served a few weeks each on assignments along the border.

The troops began arriving in Yuma in July. They spend the other part of their day scanning the Arizona desert, searching with binoculars for the telltale clouds of dust that follow someone running across the Mexican border in hopes of entering the U-S illegally.

Soldiers with the Tennessee National Guard, who man makeshift posts along isolated stretches of the Arizona border where immigrants prefer to cross, can go days without spotting an immigrant. And that's just fine by them _ it probably means they're doing their job.

As one puts it: "You see them turn and run when they see us, so you feel like you're making a difference."