Guardsmen settling into border duty

Bush's 1st support wave freeing up Border Patrol
Daniel Gonzalez
The Arizona Republic

NOGALES - Spc. Lathan Evans of Goodyear logged in visitors and answered phones at the U.S. Border Patrol substation. Pfc. Daniel Bolin of Scottsdale monitored a remote-control camera to scan for people jumping the wall downtown. Sgt. Ken Hagerth of Tucson finished fixing a broken radiator on a Border Patrol truck.

These Arizona Army and Air National Guard soldiers are the first of 2,500 who will descend on the Arizona-Mexico border by the end of August in task forces that started with these administrative and maintenance support troops. The deployment also calls for an armed "entry identification" group to help spot and alert the Border Patrol to human smugglers and drug traffickers coming across the border, although officials insist it is not a combatant force.

The troops are part of President Bush's decision to send 6,000 Guardsmen to help the Border Patrol seal the southern border. Border Patrol and National Guard officials said the troops are already having an impact by freeing up Border Patrol agents to go out into the field. So far, about two dozen agents in Arizona have been spelled of normal duties and are now in the field to help with enforcement and interdiction.