Mutually beneficial
While the border patrol has reaped
numerous bene ts from OGS, ARNG
crews supporting the operation have
bene ted from the mission, too. Given
that most aircrews are traditional
guardsmen who drill one weekend
a month and y on additional days
throughout that month to maintain
currency, being on active-duty
orders for OGS has them ying on a
commensurate ight schedule. This is
especially advantageous for junior crews
with limited experience. Two of the
Arizona UH-60 crew chiefs came straight
from the training pipeline into OGS,
and in just a matter of weeks gained
operational experience that would
otherwise have taken months, if not
years, to accumulate.
Talking about what Indiana’s Lakota
crews are getting out of OGS, Orr stated,
‘We appreciate this mission so much
because it’s a whole new environment
and new challenge for us. We have
approached or even exceeded the
maximum temperature limitations,
which is something we never approach
in Indiana. The altitude and the way
we’re ying with a couple of guys in the
back, we’re near gross weight, so [we
have] very tight power margins. All our
pilots come here, they y the missions,
and they go back as better pilots.’
Desert ying and support for the
border patrol is old hat for Arizona
ARNG aviators, yet they are still taking
away valuable experience from OGS.
As Escobedo observed, ‘We have our
normal training events to stay current.
What [OGS] allows us to do is take
that training and actually use it in a
real-world situation, which will help us
when we get another state mission or
overseas mission.’Guardian angels
As with the standard CBP mission,
rounding up ‘bad hombres’ and seizing
narcotics is only part of the job. While
a hardened criminal element certainly
makes up a signi cant percentage of the
encounters, the majority are economic
migrants or asylum-seekers from nations
like Guatemala and Honduras, seeking
better employment opportunities and
safer environments for their children.
Despite their determination, many of
these UDAs are ultimately unable to
handle the distance, terrain or extreme
weather, succumbing to dehydration,
starvation, broken bones, or heat stroke.
As such, the MRTs have at least one
agent who is certi ed as an emergency
medical technician (EMT) to treat the
sick or wounded before taking them into
custody. ‘As as much as we’re responding
to guys sneaking through the bushes,
we’re responding to 911 calls and people
that are near death and being given
humanitarian aid and water,’ said Orr.
Speaking from the border patrol
perspective, agent Stukenberg said,
‘We have a lot more rescues in the
summertime, obviously given the heat,
but the wintertime is not to be forgotten
because we have extremely cold
temperatures out there. Hypothermia and
things like that can set in pretty quick, so
any time we can get to individuals who
are maybe not in complete dire straits yet,
but are heading that way — running out
of water, running out of food. With the air
assets in the ARNG helping us get agents
to their locations, we are most de nitely
preventing people from succumbing to
the conditions out there.’The mission continues
For as much help as the national guard
has provided to the border patrol, recentdevelopments like the surge of asylum-
seekers from El Salvador, Guatemala,
and Honduras have further complicated
the situation. While many are largely
turning themselves in at ports of entry
to formally initiate the asylum process,
the sheer volume of these migrants
demands more border patrol agents
manning those ports. At the same time,
the governors of California, Colorado,
New Mexico, and Wisconsin withdrew
support for OGS, reducing the total
number of guardsmen helping out on
the border. As of May 1, 2019 about
2,000 guardsmen were deployed for
this role, about half of the authorized
OGS strength of 4,000 troops. Despite
these setbacks, national guard aviators
continue to y the mission, helping
CBP apprehend ‘bad hombres’, seize
narcotics, care for exhausted and injured
migrants, and generally enable them
to be in more places with more people
than they otherwise could be.Above: The Lakota
MEP features
the Night Sun
searchlight,
which has proven
a valuable tool for
OGS. CBP
Below: Fairchild
RC-26B Condor
surveillance
aircraft, like this
example from
the Arizona Air
National Guard’s
162nd Fighter
Wing, have been
supporting OGS
since October
2018.
Joe CopalmanOPS REPORT // ‘GUARDIAN SUPPORT’
62 August 2019 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
58-62 Guardian C.indd 62 21/06/2019 12:59