Thread: W. V. National Guard Men, Women Participate in Operation

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West Virginia National Guard Men, Women Participate in Operation Jump Start

By HEATHER ZIEGLER Assistant City Editor

Dec 24, 2006

Members of the West Virginia National Guard peer across the horizon as they patrol the Mexico/United States border near Santa Teresa, N.M. They are providing assistance to the U.S. Border Patrol in Operation Jump Start.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Sgt. Jessica Homeres of Charleston barely as tall as the weapon she carries on her shoulder, scans the countryside from the “Crow’s Nest” perched high atop a mountain near Santa Teresa, N.M.

Make no mistake, Homeres is quite capable of taking care of herself and those under her command at the border patrol site. A member of the West Virginia National Guard serving in Operation Jump Start, Homeres is one of 94 soldiers from the Mountain State serving as the eyes and ears for the inundated United States Border Patrol along the New Mexico/Mexico border.

She has been in the Guard since 2003 and has just one semester left to complete her college degree at West Virginia State University. The young sergeant is mulling over the idea of maintaining a permanent position in the military. Until that time, she is a serious contender in the fight against illegal aliens.

“Back home you don’t always hear about what’s going on here. But we are stopping drugs and making a difference,” Homeres said. “It’s very different learning in a classroom and being out here in the middle of the night, and you see or hear something in the dark. You have to always be aware.”

And it will be no different on Christmas Day. Border crashers take no holidays and neither do our troops, she observed.

While Homeres knows what her job entails, she also feels compassion for the people she prevents from crossing the border. “I think people should have a chance for freedom, but they need to do it legally,” she said as she points to the Rio Grande River where many illegals attempt to cross the border from Mexico.

Each and every soldier in the West Virginia National Guard stationed in New Mexico volunteered for President Bush’s Operation Jump Start. They are highly-trained and experienced soldiers, most having served in Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations overseas.

For Spec. Michael Wood of Bloomingdale, Ohio, Operation Jump Start has been the challenge he’s been searching for in his life.

“I didn’t like college and I had always thought about the military. I joined in July 2002 and I love it.”

Wood works EIT — or Early Identification Team sites. It is at these border patrol sites that Wood and his fellow soldiers become the guard dogs for the Border Patrol.

“There are sensors all over the place and we work off those. We know when someone is around. I definitely think it is working,” Wood added. The 1999 graduate of Indian Creek High School said one of the most dangerous parts of the job is coming face to face with the “coyotes.”

That’s the term given to people who are paid to transport illegals across the border. Wood said sometimes the coyotes lead the groups into the desert only to abandon or even kill them after receiving their money. To date there are more than a dozen unsolved murders among illegals in the desert area. Drug runners also can be vicious and aren’t afraid to shoot at the soldiers and Border Patrol officers.

In one area on the Mexico side, a watch tower was built near the border so the illegals can observe the Guard troops in an effort to make a run for the border. When troops discover illegals crossing the border, they immediately radio to the nearest Border Patrol officers who swoop into make the arrest or turn the illegals back at the border. The Guard assists the Border Patrol officers in any way it can to accomplish the task at hand and to ensure officers’ safety.

E6 Staff Sgt. John Littleton of Shadyside, Ohio, has been a National Guardsman for 15 years. He took a seven-year break, but decided to come back to the Guard with Operation Jump Start. It’s a far cry from his previous job as a CVS store manager. He also currently is enrolled in the apprenticeship program of the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union in Wheeling.

“I was looking for adventure and went to Iraq for a year. When this opportunity came up, I volunteered. This is really a great job here,” said Littleton who also works the EIT sites.

The only real drawback is being away from his wife and two children and his parents who live in the Wegee Creek area of Shadyside. “I was home for Thanksgiving, so it’s not too bad being here for Christmas.”

There is no actual military base for the West Virginia Guard in New Mexico, so they live in hotels throughout the region. It is not the ideal situation and the military is looking at finding apartments for the troops.

However, the Guard’s presence in the community has resulted in other arrests as well. Some soldiers living at a one of the hotels observed some gang members, and reported it to local authorities who ended up making a sizable drug bust.

Guard member Sebastian Berry of Morgantown, W.Va., reported how in another case, some Guard members found a woman left in the desert by smugglers. She was suffering from heat exhaustion after walking five miles. When they found her, the woman was barely breathing. Berry said troops performed CPR and provided life-saving treatment on the woman.

The Guard also rescued a tractor-trailer driver when his truck overturned on a highway. And when recent flooding occurred in the area, the Guard jumped into action as they are accustomed to flood work back in West Virginia.

Staff Sgt. Philip Smith of Scott Depot, W.Va., joked that Subway is the “official” restaurant of the Guard. He said the soldiers are on their own for their meals each day and eat at local restaurants. The residents are happy to have the National Guard in their cities as they help deter all types of crime. Sometimes soldiers will be treated to meals at the neighborhood eateries.

Troops patrolling the border work eight-hour shifts. However, the travel time involved in going from site to site and back to their hotel rooms means they are actually on the job for 12 hours a day. Black Hawk helicopters also serve the troops at the border patrol areas.

Sgt. Katherine Smoll and her husband Spec. Charles Smoll of Glenville, W.Va., are lucky to be stationed together at Las Cruces where they shoulder their weapons and patrol the border. They know they are plotting their future with the National Guard even though it means they had to leave their toddler son back in West Virginia for now.

“A lot of people think there is a huge fence along the border when in fact in some places there are only three strands of barbed wire and in some places it is just an imaginary line,” Sgt. Smoll explained.

“It’s like any other job. Some days are very busy and other days there is nothing,” Smoll said. Smoll’s EIT site is near a massive landfill where illegals often attempt to cross into the United States. “Most of them are trash pickers or those who want to cross to make a better life for themselves. Some of them will be just be walking and others will be sprinting across. When we spot them, we notify the Border Patrol in the area and they either turn them back or take them into custody.”

Staff Sgt. Kenneth Campbell, who, when not serving in the W.Va. National Guard, spends his time in the classroom teaching at Mountain State University, said not everyone is taken into custody when confronted at the border.

“The Border Patrol will turn them back right there. However all OTMs — Other Than Mexicans — are taken into custody.”

Campbell said the Border Patrol recently apprehended two Pakistanians trying to sneak over the Mexico border into the U.S. “It’s not just about Mexicans. We have to think about terrorists,” Campbell added.

The illegals will do just about anything to get across the border. They will place ladders over the sand or wear horseshoes on their feet to disguise their footprints, officials reported.

U.S. Border Patrol officials said since the inception of Operation Jump Start in May, the National Guard has provided needed support to the 11,000 Border Patrol officers on foot, horseback and all-terrain vehicles. The Border Patrol has made over 1 million arrests out of which 22,000 of those arrested were wanted for major crimes, including murder.

Campbell said the Border Patrol recently apprehended two Pakistanians trying to sneak over the Mexico border into the U.S. “It’s not just about Mexicans. We have to think about terrorists,” Campbell added.

This is where the President of the United States has betrayed his people by refusing to enforce our laws. He should be brought up on charges of dereliction of duty.

Even Dan Quail would have made a better President

Originally Posted by Rockfish

Campbell said the Border Patrol recently apprehended two Pakistanians trying to sneak over the Mexico border into the U.S. “It’s not just about Mexicans. We have to think about terrorists,” Campbell added.

This is where the President of the United States has betrayed his people by refusing to enforce our laws. He should be brought up on charges of dereliction of duty.

Even Dan Quail would have made a better President

Yes, and what will be his excuse if the terrorists do get in from the southern border and strike?