Securing-the-Southern-Border

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Arizona National Guard’s Task Force SAFE Strengthens Border Security
May 13, 2025 — NOGALES, Ariz. — In an effort to disrupt the flow of illegal drugs into the United States, Arizona... MORE

U.S. Soldiers with the Arizona Army National Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents inspect a cooler of fish for illegal drugs or other contraband items at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales, Arizona, April 30, 2025.

Texas Guard Members Bolster Border Patrol Efforts along Rio Grande
May 7, 2025 — ROMA, Texas – A steady breeze rolled across a closed bridge crossing the Rio Grande, offering relief... MORE

A U.S. Soldier with the Texas Army National Guard monitors activity along the Rio Grande during a patrol near Roma, Texas, April 25, 2025.

Maryland Guard Soldiers Return Home From Border Mission
March 19, 2025 — EDGEWOOD, Md. – Maryland Army National Guard Soldiers assigned to the 1st Battalion, 224th Aviation... MORE

Maryland Army National Guard Soldiers assigned to the 1st Battalion, 224th Aviation Regiment, celebrated their return home from federal deployment under the direction of U.S. Northern Command at Weide Army Heliport at the Army Aviation Support Facility at Aberdeen Proving Ground-South March 8, 2025.

Oregon National Guard Prepares for Southern Border Mission
March 13, 2025 — SALEM, Ore. - The Oregon National Guard's 1249th Engineer Battalion is preparing for a year-long... MORE

Soldiers from the Oregon National Guard's 1249th Engineer Battalion stand in formation during a change of command ceremony at the Anderson Readiness Center in Salem, Oregon, Sept. 8, 2024. The battalion is preparing for a year-long mobilization to support security operations along the southern border beginning October 2025.

District of Columbia Guard Returns from Border Mission
February 18, 2025 — WASHINGTON – About two dozen District of Columbia Army National Guard Aviation Command members... MORE

Left to right, Brig. Gen. Leland D. Blanchard II, the adjutant general for the District of Columbia National Guard; Maj. Gen. John C. Andonie, commanding general (Interim) for the D.C. National Guard; Capt. Corbin Cali, aviation operations officer and Det 1 A Co 1/224th S&S commander; Sgt. 1st Class Richard Molezzo, Det 1 A Co 1/224th S&S NCOIC; Chief Warrant Officer 5 Bernard L. Aguon, command chief warrant officer for the D.C. National Guard, and Lt. Col. Ryan Rooks, state aviation officer for the D.C. Army National Guard. About two dozen D.C. Guard members returned home following a 12-month deployment to the southern border.

Texas National Guard Operation Lone Star Helps Secure Border
February 11, 2025 — ROMA, Texas - National Guard members continue to play a key role in sealing and securing the... MORE

A Texas Army National Guard Soldier looks across the Rio Grande River near Roma, Texas, while taking part in border operations with the Texas Tactical Border Force, Feb. 5, 2025. The TTBF, comprising Texas National Guard members in a state active duty status, works with state and federal law enforcement officials, including U.S. Border Patrol, to deter, detect and stop illegal border crossings and to interdict transnational criminals.

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Video by John Benedetto

MHSRS 2024: Medical Assessment and Readiness System (MARS)

Defense Health Agency

Aug. 26, 2024 | 2:52

The Military Health Research Symposium honors the Medical Assessment and Readiness System (MARS) Team, based at Womack Army Medical Center for their outstanding contribution to military medical research.

The Medical Assessment and Readiness System (MARS) became fully functional at Womack Army Medical Center (WAMC), Fort Liberty, NC in January 2020. The original database was created by the Army Office of the Surgeon General (OTSG) in 2011 at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine. Its primary purpose was to provide medical readiness data in the form of the Medical Readiness Assessment Tool (MRAT), which later became embedded into the Army’s Medical Operational Data System to allow providers and commanders to see a soldier’s medical readiness to deploy. It thus became the first predictive analytics solution to service member medical readiness forecasting. In 2016, subsequent OTSG personnel assigned to maintain the MRAT program were not well-positioned to conduct the requisite clinical research activity needed to validate and enhance the system. This began a 4-year process of regulatory approvals for WAMC to acquire this database with the support of our partner, The Consortium for Health and Military Performance (CHAMP) of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD. MARS is now a repository continually updated to capture longitudinal sociodemographic, clinical, and administrative statuses. It has two fully dedicated research servers, full system access clearance for our database managers and data scientists, complete Institutional Review Board and HIPAA approval, and fully executed data sharing agreements with the Defense Health Agency and other Department of Defense (DoD) organizations. MARS includes data on over three million active-duty service members. The longitudinal datasets permit retrospective observation of health and military career trajectories for over 15 million person-years of active service. Over 100 variables are available for analyses to include demographic and anthropomorphic data, body composition and vital signs, diagnostic and procedure codes from direct and purchased care, complete health record data to include laboratory and imaging results, deployment history, military occupational specialty, unit assignment, promotion history, medical profile data, and standard testing such as physical fitness and weapons qualification scores.