Photo By Sgt. Scott Tynes | This fence is all that separates Arizona from Mexico. Six Soldiers of the Mississippi...... read more read more
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MARANA, Ariz. – Mississippi National Guard Soldiers are part of a federal multi-agency task force that has captured nearly 100,000 undocumented immigrants and more than 262,000 pounds of marijuana alone crossing the Arizona border since 2012.
Task Force Raven, based at Silver Bell Army Heliport in Marana, Ariz., provides the aerial component of Operation Guardian Eye, which conducts southwest border operations along the Arizona and Texas border with Mexico. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Drug Enforcement Agency agents along with Army National Guard Soldiers work closely with the U.S. Border Patrol to prevent the passage of drugs and undocumented immigrants.
Six Soldiers with 1st Battalion, 185th Aviation Regiment, of Tupelo, Miss., are currently assigned to Task Force Raven, which concentrates on the Tucson, Ariz. and Rio Grande Valley and Laredo sectors of Texas. Mississippi Soldiers are assigned to the task force for three to six months on a rotating basis with other state Guardsmen.
“Mississippi has been the most active state in supporting this mission,” said Lt. Col. Kris Bast, task force commander from the Arizona Army National Guard. “In 2012, Mississippi helped stand up the Texas operations. That was a very big thing.”
Operation Guardian Eye was first established in 2010 as a one-year mission to assist federal agencies with Arizona border security, but has been extended each year because of the success of the undertaking. It was expanded to include portions of the Texas border in 2012.
“We are not a law enforcement agency. We simply support them,” Bast said.
A typical Raven flight crew aboard an UH-72 Lakota helicopter includes two pilots and a crew chief from the Army National Guard and a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Two of the Lakotas assigned to the mission are from Mississippi.
The Border Patrol agent coordinates with his agency and when something is located by radar, sensors or agents on the ground, he guides the Lakota to the scene, where they provide “eyes in the sky” to help pin down the position of the objective.
“[Undocumented immigrants] can be very hard to see,” said 1st Lt. Jimmie Thomas, a pilot with 1-185th. “They hide and wear light colored clothing or light camouflage patterns and can blend in very well with the terrain.”
While the mission provides support to federal agencies, it also gives the Soldiers some very realistic experiences they can translate to their military service, Bast said.
“The training benefit here is substantially equivalent to that which would otherwise be obtained from military operations,” he said.
Thomas said the benefits include learning to work with others outside the military command structure and adapting the Army’s techniques and procedures to address the needs of the mission. It also provides a real-time scenario with changing situations that closely mirrors what they would encounter on a combat mission.
“It’s a good dynamic tasking where we are all working together,” he said. “I can’t see anything better to help in training for a combat mission. And it’s an opportunity to fly every day, which we don’t get serving as traditional Guardsmen.”
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jason Seal said the southwest desert environment, with its heat and high-density altitude, provides the additional advantage of being similar to operating conditions in Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern areas.
“The National Guard was originally designed to guard our nation and that’s what I see us doing here – guarding our borders,” Seal said.
| Date Taken: | 04.23.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.24.2015 21:17 |
| Story ID: | 161218 |
| Location: | MARANA, ARIZONA, US |
| Hometown: | BRANDON, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Hometown: | CALEDONIA, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Hometown: | LEXINGTON, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Hometown: | TUCSON, ARIZONA, US |
| Hometown: | TUPELO, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Web Views: | 249 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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