Sgt. Randy Holmes of Richmond is one of 172 Virginia guardsmen monitoring the vast expanse of border near Sasabe, Ariz. View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

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Difficult desert duty

For Virginia guardsmen, mission with the Border Patrol is no cakewalk

Date published: 8/13/2006

Story by MELISSA NIX
Photographs by MIKE MORONES THE FREE LANCE-STAR

MULTIMEDIA: Click here to view a related slide show.

SASABE, Ariz.--Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Wheeler of Spotsylvania County pulled up in his Humvee and made a quick U-turn in the pouring rain.

Wheeler, a member of Fredericksburg's 116th Brigade Troops Battalion, wore his camouflage boonie hat like a cowboy, its brim rolled up. He hung his head out the window and told his commander he could tow him up the hill, if need be.

1st Lt. Jeremiah Weiss, commander of the Virginia National Guard outpost in Sasabe, had been on his way to Observation Post 56 when his red Ram Durango slid into the ditch. A flash thunderstorm had turned a passable road through the wilderness into thick, red sludge.

He had radioed Wheeler. By the time the sergeant arrived, Weiss had wrangled his vehicle from the ditch. But he wanted Wheeler to follow him up the road.

"You're good, sir. I'll follow you out," Wheeler said.

Weiss, a Yorktown native and member of Portsmouth's 2-183rd Calvary, nodded. "Good NCOs make your life a whole lot easier," he said, continuing to the next observation point.

More than 400 Virginia National Guardsmen--20 of them from the Fredericksburg area--are manning 27 observation posts along 163 miles of the Arizona-Mexico border.

It's the Virginia National Guard's contribution to Operation Jump Start, a nationwide mission to support the U.S. Border Patrol in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.

The Virginians are spread out among three of Arizona's border-crossing hot spots--Nogales, Ajo and Sasabe. Every post they man frees up Border Patrol agents to focus on law enforcement and interdiction.

The guardsmen arrived July 20 and will be in Arizona until Sept. 30. They work in 24-hour shifts, followed by 40 hours off. They work as spotters, alerting Border Patrol agents to groups crossing into the United States.

Since operations began, Virginia guardsmen have reported 376 border-crossers. Border Patrol agents have detained 83 of them. The Border Patrol also credits Task Force Stonewall with helping them confiscate 28 pounds of drugs.

Editor's note: Free Lance-Star reporter Melissa Nix and photographer Mike Morones have spent the past week in Nogales, Ariz., with Virginia Air and Army National Guardsmen who volunteered for the Border Patrol assignment. This is the latest in their reports on the guardsmen and their mission. Log on to fredericksburg.com for an interactive presentation.

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Date published: 8/13/2006