National Guard hard at work on border
05/12/01
Bill Hess

ARIZONA, U.S.A. - For both the soldiers and the captured border crossers, the idea is the same — work.

For would-be immigrants the United States is the land of opportunity — jobs. For four of the guardsmen, the fence is their only source of employment. Jobless in civilian life, they volunteered for a series of two-week rotations on the fence project.

Normally National Guard units have to do a two-week training stint. In the case of Sgt. Ricky Davis, Spc. Bryon Simms, Spc. Robert Smith and Pfc. Lee Limbs, volunteering for extra two-week rotations is a matter, not only of service but of money.

Chief Warrant Officer Ralph Martinez, a full-time National Guard technician who also is fulfilling his annual two-week stint in uniform, said soldiers from a variety of units in Arizona volunteer for the work along the border, some to take care of their training requirements and others to earn money because they are out of jobs.

Regardless everyone benefits, with the soldiers receiving a combination of money and special training and the Border Patrol having the fence upgraded, said Martinez, who is stationed at Camp Navajo near Flagstaff.

The special border project fits in well with the National Guard’s “Innovative Readiness Training program,” he said. National Guard soldiers need to be multi-talented and the work along the border helps them learn to do other things, Martinez said.

Looking down the long fence, he said the goal of this rotation — the seventh to work along the border since November — “is to complete a mile by doing quarter mile increments,” Martinez said.

The job entails welding on additional poles to strengthen the metal fence and eventually adding five feet more of height by welding on a heavy metal mesh screen, he said. The additional of a mesh screen will be limited to the part of the fence which borders Naco, Sonora.

While Martinez said he has no idea when the project will be completed and if more rotations will be needed, some of the soldiers said they are willing to keep coming back as long as they have no civilian jobs.

In sweat-stained clothes and perspiration running down their faces, Limbs and Simms worked on making a hole in the ground for a metal pole as Smith operated a large mechanical auger. Limbs poured water in the hole and after the auger spun around making the hole deeper it had to be removed so Simms could knock the soil off the boring device with a shovel. Limbs, who served in the active duty Army for 10 years, said he got into the National Guard a few years after leaving military service.

An electrician by trade he said he has volunteered for four rotations because he is unemployed.

A member of the 259th Engineering Company, where he is a heavy equipment operator, Limbs said he appreciates being able to earn additional money with the National Guard as he looks for a job in Phoenix.

Simms, who moved from Phoenix to Safford to be near his family, is a diesel mechanic but noted “there isn’t much of a need for diesel mechanics in Safford.” A member of the 258th Engineering Company, Simms is on his third rotation. Like Limbs he is a heavy equipment operator in the National Guard.

Smith is a member of the Guard’s 416th Air Traffic Services Company. Laid off from a job with a Qwest contractor in Tucson, he is on his second rotation.

Working together on the border fence project has brought them closer.

Limbs said, “I enjoy this, it keeps me busy.” Simms and Smith, who both served in the active duty Army for three years, said they agreed with Limbs. After the short break, the trio went back to making holes for the poles.

Not far from where they were working was Davis, of the 259th Engineering Company.

The out of work Phoenix printer, who spent six years in the active duty Army, is on his second rotation looking at the extra National Guard time as providing more money while he’s looking for work.

He had just finished welding a pole on to the fence, giving a small section more strength to receive the additional weight of the heavy metal mesh screen.

What he enjoyed was that he is getting to do more welding, something he enjoys.

Martinez said for some National Guard soldiers it is hard to understand why they are unemployed at the same time illegal immigrants keep trying to enter the country for work. The soldiers, who are staying at the Army National Guard armory in Douglas, cannot go into Mexico while they are working on the project. Each rotation involves about 25 soldiers. What the National Guard is doing is providing both work, and more importantly, training for its soldiers by doing projects like those along the border, he said.

Not far from the border is a sign which states: “If this were Scottsdale, the National Guard would be here.”

The sign implies the state would ensure Guard units would protect one of the wealthiest communities in Arizona if it were impacted by illegal immigrant activity. The Guard’s answer is simple: They are here.

©2000 MyWebPal.com