Thread: Operation Jump Start Guardsmen arrive (Yuma)

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Operation Jump Start Guardsmen arrive here
BY TAMMY KRIKORIAN, SUN STAFF WRITER
Jun 18, 2006



More than 50 soldiers from the Arizona National Guard arrived in the Yuma sector over the weekend to support the U.S. Border Patrol.

The group is the first batch of National Guard troops to be deployed as part of Operation Jump Start, President Bush's plan to curb illegal immigration by sending up to 6,000 troops to the four southern border states to assist federal immigration agents.

Chief Patrol Agent Ron Colburn said this first group is the "forward unit" and there will be more arriving later this month.

"It's exciting for the whole community that the first boots on the ground arrived today in Yuma for Operation Jump Start," he said Sunday.

Once the operation is "fully flush," he said, there will be several hundred National Guard personnel assigned to the Yuma sector.

The group that arrived over the weekend could spend several months, or up to a year, in Yuma.

The majority will be unarmed, performing support functions that will allow more Border Patrol agents to work in the field.

In a briefing on Sunday morning, Colburn told the troops: "This is just as important to us as what you do overseas, and we appreciate that ... We really do see a joint and parallel mission."

Paul Babeau, commander for Task Force Sidewinder, lives in Queen Creek and works as a police officer in Chandler.

Babeau said the National Guard soldiers and airmen that arrived over the weekend, and the rest of the 300 troops that will be sent to the Yuma and Tucson sectors in the coming weeks, received very little notice.

"This is a very quick stand up," Babeau said. "We appreciate employers who allow us to do this."

Babeau said the troops will use the skills they use in the private sector to assist the Border Patrol with support functions including mechanics and welding, communications and dispatch.

The training time will be brief, and the troops will begin work today.

"These are trained soldiers that wear the uniform of the military," Babeau said. "There's a certain expectation of ability."

Babeau thinks it's great that the National Guard is able to assist the Border Patrol in providing safety and security along the border.

"Coming back from Iraq, (being) deployed in support of the nation was a great honor for me," he said. "This is a particular point of pride to support my own community and my own state."

In this operation, Babeau said, there is no enemy.

"We see that as direct support," he said. "Mexico is a good neighbor. It's not about nationality, it's about security and the crime associated (with the border)."

Daniela Cervantes is one of several Arizona National Guard troops working with the Border Patrol who already lives in Yuma.

Cervantes said she works for the Guard full time, and is currently attending officer candidate training school to become a second lieutenant. Her role with Operation Jump Start is to serve as a liaison officer between the National Guard and the Border Patrol.

Cervantes said she is glad to have the opportunity to work on this operation.

"Coming back from Iraq, a 15-month deployment, it's great to serve the community by supporting the Border Patrol," she said. "I feel very honored to be part of this task force."

Sgt. 1st Class Charles Trujillo of the New Mexico National Guard, who works at the Air Force Research Lab at Kirtland Air Force Base, will serve as a public affairs officer.

"It's for the good of the country, and it's always nice to be able to help out and say that you assisted," he said.

In 30 years in the Guard, Trujillo has helped with floods, fires and prison riots. Supporting the Border Patrol is just one of the ways the Guard serves the country, he said.

Colburn said the Border Patrol and the National Guard have a long-standing relationship, but this is the largest scale in which the National Guard has been used to assist on the border.

"They have been supporting the Border Patrol for 20 years in this role," Colburn said. "This is the most personnel committed by the National Guard by all four (border) states at once."

Colburn said the end result of the partnership will be "a safer and more secure area on the border between the ports of entry."

"Our relationship with the National Guard has always been an interactive and positive relationship," he said. "Very symbiotic."

Tammy Krikorian can be reached at tkrikorian@yumasun.com or 539-6847.

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I am all for the Guards being on the border! What is going to happen though when the President discontinues this? Are there going to be more border agents hired for training during the time these Guards are on the border to take their place when the Guards are pulled back? Is it going to help spending all these millions of dollars putting them on the border if they are not hiring more agents in the process. As far as I am concerned this could be a permenant thing for the Guard, after all they are for homeland security right? We have to pay them anyway, why not use them? Could this be a logical permanent solution to our border security, or would Mexico complain to much if this became a permanent solution ?

This is all a dog and pony show, all contrived for public appeasement. Bush thinks that if he apears to be tough on the border now, it will make the prospect of amnesty go down easier later on. He knows there will be no real need for more BP agents in the future, because he is just going to open the borders and let anyone who wants to cross over come here legally as so-called guest workers. And when he legalizes the millions of illegals already here, they can bring over all their family members as well, so those relatives won't need to try to cross over illegally. This is all just a huge scam to quiet those critics of his amnesty plan and give cover to those Republicans who need conservative support to win re-election in the fall.