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 NEWS
 California Guard members at home on Border Patrol's range By Sgt. Jim Greenhill
                National Guard Bureau
 SAN DIEGO - When the U.S. Border Patrol officials needed range safety officers to help agents qualify with their weapons, they turned to the California National Guard. Guard members are supporting agents at the San Diego Sector Small Firearms Range as part of Operation Jump Start. The National Guard is assisting the Border Patrol secure the U.S. border with Mexico in four states from Texas to California. The arrival of Citizen-Soldiers and -Airmen meant that some Border Patrol agents could return to "the line" – enforce the law along the border. "We sent several of our instructors back to their respective stations so that they could do their jobs on the line," said Guillermo Gomez, a senior patrol agent in the San Diego sector who is spending two years as a firearms instructor at the small-arms range. "It's been great," Gomez said. "They've been helping us out with maintenance, packing up old guns and shipping them out, paperwork and cleaning up the range. Those things make a big difference." As a way of saying thank you to Guard members who worked during a recent Saturday so that some agents could qualify on the range, the agents shared tuna they had caught during a deep-sea fishing trip with the Guard members. That's typical of the camaraderie between agents and Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen, Guard members say. "We just kind of jelled," said Sgt. Alonzo Bailon, 40th Special Troops Battalion. "We're both in a supportive role [to the American people.] It was very easy for us to step in and integrate. "A lot of the border agents were prior [military] service. And they share experiences they have out in the field," Bailon added. "We also share our experiences with them – especially the guys who've been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan." On July 22, Citizen-Soldiers served as range safety officers at a nondescript, secure building near the San Diego International Airport. As thousands of visitors to a comics convention enjoyed a summer Saturday a few blocks away, Border Patrol agents were engaged in the serious business of qualifying with their sidearms and shotguns. The Guard members applied their Army training to the job, preparing the range, ensuring weapons were pointed down range at all times, calculating scores, and keeping the shooting lanes operational. "We're the extra eyes and ears to make sure there are no safety violations and no one gets injured," Bailon said. "Our whole careers we're involved with weapons – firing the 9-millimeter [pistol] or the M16 [rifle]. Because we have knowledge and expertise, and because of our efficiency, they allowed us to assist the Border Patrol at this station." Gomez, the senior patrol agent, said Border Patrol agents value the Guard members' contributions. "The guys are very squared away," he said. "It's greatly appreciated." ------ Like many Guard members along the 1,300 miles of border, California Army Guard Spc. William Parker has a gung ho attitude about the mission. After seven years in the military, including a stint in the active Army and a Guard deployment because of Hurricane Katrina, Parker finds himself on the southern border of his own state performing a mission which, he said, is as much of a learning opportunity as it is about national security. Parker also said he likes Operation Jump Start because he can live at home and help his parents, who are both blind, while working full-time in uniform. "I want to stay for two years," he said. Maybe the fresh tuna steaks have something to do with that.
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