Tennessee soldiers stationed at the border south of Yuma spend part of their day trying to pass the time reading in the shade of a military camouflage net, drinking liter after liter of icy bottled water or catching a few hours’ sleep on a cot in temperatures that at times top 110 degrees.
They spend the other part of their day scanning the Arizona desert, searching with binoculars for the telltale clouds of dust that follow someone running across the Mexican border in hopes of entering the United States illegally.
Soldiers with the Tennessee National Guard, who man makeshift posts along isolated stretches of the Arizona border where immigrants prefer to cross, can go days without spotting an immigrant. And that’s just fine by them — it probably means they’re doing their job.
“You see them turn and run when they see us, so you feel like you’re making a difference,’’ said Spc. Jonathan Lee, one of the 500 Tennessee Guard soldiers who will serve in Arizona by the end of September.
Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen announced in June that the state would send National Guard military police to Arizona as part of Operation Jump Start, President Bush’s plan to patrol the United States-Mexico border.
Those troops began arriving in Yuma in late July, most for two- to three-week rotations, and they will return to Tennessee by Sept. 30, though Tennessee military officials have said the state could send more Guard soldiers to the border in coming years.
The National Guard soldiers alert U.S. Border Patrol officers when they spot someone crossing the border illegally, but they are not allowed to arrest them. They are armed but allowed to use force only to defend themselves.
Soldiers work 24-hour shifts and are assigned to each post in groups of four. Two people are on duty at a time, while the other two have time to rest.
Deployment replaces annual training
The deployment, which is being funded by the federal government, will replace the soldiers’ two-week annual training.
Mr. Lee, a 26-year-old who works in the hardware department at Wal-Mart, said officials with the Border Patrol have told Guard soldiers that the number of people crossing illegally has dropped this summer.
Spc. John Compton’s mother immigrated to the United States legally from Korea, and the 26-year-old thinks those crossers coming from Mexico should do the same.
“People do desperate things to get what we have,” the Nashville resident said. “They want the opportunities that they don’t have over there.”
Many of the Guard soldiers patrolling the border are veterans of the war in Iraq, including Sgt. Brad Paxton, who returned from the Middle East in January.
He said this mission isn’t as stressful as being in Iraq, and it’s worthwhile because the Guard’s work frees Border Patrol officers to catch more illegal immigrants.
Immigrants frequently die from dehydration and exposure in the desert, and many Tennessee soldiers, including Sgt. Paxton, believe fewer people are making the risky journey across the border because of their presence.
Still, Sgt. Paxton, who lives in Hermitage, Tenn., carefully watches people on the other side of the border, less than a mile away, who he believes will try to cross when the Guard leaves.
“They’re watching just like we are,” he said.
Spc. Mark Shannon of Manchester, Tenn., said he was surprised by how open the border is and how easily people can cross it.
“It’s an eye-opener,” he said. “Anyone who wanted to do the U.S. harm could get in.”
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