ARLINGTON - Whether for gainful employment, service experience or a new adventure, a longtime benefit for Guard members is the ability to volunteer for short- and long-term tours.
Along those same lines, National Guard Bureau officials announced, here, recently that Air Guard members can deploy to support the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) as part of the President’s national security effort designed to strengthen the Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California borders. The Guard’s role in this effort is called Operation Jump Start.
Information on short- and long-term OJS tours is available through Air National Guard logistics and readiness offices.
Currently, there are approximately 6,000 Guard members at the Southwest Border supporting OJS. To date, Guard joint task forces (predominantly Army) in each of the four border states have helped apprehend more than 13,000 aliens, seize nearly 200 vehicles and more than 42,000 pounds of drugs, and rescue 45 aliens; however, the Guard is not involved in any direct law enforcement activities such as apprehensions.
The Guard’s OJS missions include logistical and administrative support, operating detection systems, providing mobile communications, augmenting intelligence analysis efforts, building and installing security infrastructure, and providing education and training. Airmen should check with their logistics and readiness offices for specific assignments. Not all Air Force specialties are involved in OJS, but most Airmen can deploy in some supportive role.