Photo By Master Sgt. Michael Leslie | Texas National Guard Joint Counterdrug Task Force Aviation Element pilots fly the...... read more read more
MCALLEN, Texas —The helicopter was prepared, already checked to ensure that when the mission dropped, there was no wasted time. A quick safety briefing from the Pilot in Command on the fire extinguisher location and how to properly use the seat belt harness, and the pilots began their final checks as they started the engines.
The Texas National Guard Joint Counterdrug Task Force LUH-72 “Lakota” helicopter and three person crew has been in the Rio Grande Valley area for the past week and nearly every week for the past seven months to detect, interdict and deter drug trafficking along the Texas-Mexico border. The influx of personnel due to increasing threats of trafficking into the state.
The Border Patrol agent knew what he was doing as he setup the system on the Lakota. He pointed the camera directly at the point we were flying. There was a tip of a suspected trafficking scout along the river and we were on our way.
A slight haze covered the landscape due to a farmer burning to replenish their field on the Mexico side of the river. It didn’t matter as the camera was able to see through all of it without any problems. Scanning the river banks for the scout, the agent scoured looking for heat signatures; for possible illicit activities.
Looking through dense brush, the view on the screen was so close which gave us an advantage over the scout.
Suddenly, the agent onboard the helicopter speaks into the radio, “burned, the scout saw the helicopter.” Then, across the screen flies another helicopter directly above where the agent was looking for the scout.
Maybe that other helicopter spooked the scout and he ran off. Maybe he was just nervous about coming back from out of hiding. Either way, we couldn’t find the scout again.
So we kept flying over the fertile farm land of the Rio Grande Valley. As the agent scans the river on his screen, controlling the camera equipment with ease, he spots a suspicious vehicle in a remote area near the river.
As the agent tracks the vehicle, he simultaneously coordinates with agents on the ground of what he is seeing in the air. The people in the vehicle completely unaware that the Border Patrol agent was watching them closely.
As the vehicle drove off, the agent switched back and forth watching the vehicle and then the area where it stopped to see if someone was going to return to that spot to pick up what the first vehicle possibly dropped off in the remote land.
Hearing the communication between the pilots and the agent was something you could tell could only come with experience working together repeatedly. Both knew spots of interest. Both knew what they were looking for. Both knew what the other wanted to know before being asked.
It was a symbiotic relationship through hours of rehearsal. Then, like a choreographed dance, they both spot an all-terrain vehicle on the monitor that needed further investigation. Right as the agent said, “Let’s follow that West,” the pilot had already started turning the helicopter.
On the road and off, the agent tracked the ATV as they drove to a small building, all the time coordinating with agents on the ground. Then one after another, several vehicles arrived at the remote building as if timed for the arrival of the ATV. With ground agents watching the building, the helicopter returned to scanning the river again.
As the orange sunset emerged on the horizon, it was time to return to the airport for fuel. Although nothing was seized during this flight, several interesting points of interest were marked by the agent to keep watching in the future. Not every day does the seizure of more than $115,000 in bulk cash happen, like the day previous.
To see first-hand the extreme effort and coordination between the Texas National Guard Counterdrug pilots, the Border Patrol agent in the helicopter and the agents on the ground to do everything possible to interdict drug traffickers coming into Texas from Mexico was a real eye-opening experience.
It is something that not every National Guard or even Active Duty service member gets; making a tangible positive effect in your community taking drugs off the streets.
| Date Taken: | 10.12.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 10.12.2021 12:39 |
| Story ID: | 407110 |
| Location: | MCALLEN, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 341 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Through the haze: Detecting drug traffickers along the border, by MSG Michael Leslie, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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