On his second day performing Operation Jump Start duties
on June 20, 2006, Army National Guard Pfc. Jacob Ellington, 1st Battalion,
158th Infantry Regiment, Arizona National Guard, monitors one of dozens of
screens at the Border Patrol's Communications Center linked to cameras
monitoring the Yuma Sector of the border with Mexico. The National Guard is
operating as the eyes and ears for the Border Patrol. Ellington has
volunteered to continue the mission indefinitely. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt.
Jim Greenhill) (Released)
Civilian contractors and Soldiers from the 257th Engineer Detachment, Arizona National Guard, discuss a water well they will drill at the border with Mexico in the Border Patrol's Yuma Sector. The well and two others like it will tap the water table up to 500 feet below the desert to improve the supply for Operation Jump Start troops and Border Patrol agents in the remote area. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)
Chris Van Wagenen, senior patrol agent, Border Patrol, demonstrates how a piece of foam clipped to his right shoe with wire makes it harder to follow his footprints in the desert sand at the border with Mexico in the Yuma Sector. Van Wagenen noticed the crudely improvised device lying near fence as he drove the border on June 20, 2006, and stopped to demonstrate how undocumented aliens and smugglers use such inventions to make agents' jobs more difficult. Every time a National Guard vehicle arrives bearing more troops for Operation Jump Start, Van Wagenen knows more agents are free to secure the border. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)
Army National Guard Staff Sgt. James Wolanczyk, G Company, 285th Aviation
Regiment, Arizona Army National Guard, stacks truck tires at the Border
Patrol's Yuma Sector headquarters in Arizona on June 20, 2006. The arrival
of National Guard members for Operation Jump Start has helped the Border
Patrol slash vehicle maintenance times, meaning more eyes and ears on the
border with Mexico. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)
Border
Patrol agents assigned Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Dominic Flores, 162nd
Fighter Wing, Arizona National Guard, to the Nogales Station communications
center because his civilian acquired skills as an Tucson police officer
meant he was perfectly suited for the job. On June 21, 2006, he was running
criminal records checks -- just three days after he arrived for Operation
Jump Start. He has volunteered to stay on the mission indefinitely. (U.S.
Army photo by Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)
On June 21, 2006, Arizona National Guard Soldiers and
Airmen were at work in the communications center at the Nogales Border
Patrol Station just three days into their assignment to Operation Jump
Start. Each Guard member that takes a post in the center frees a Border
Patrol agent to return to the frontline securing the nation's border with
Mexico. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released) 
Army National Guard Spc. Lathan Evans, 1st Battalion, 158th Infantry
Regiment, listens as Arizona National Guard Soldiers and Airmen are briefed
by Border Patrol agents at the Nogales Station at the end of the day shift
on June 21, 2006. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)
Until the Connecticut National Guard built this vehicle barrier on the U.S.
border with Mexico recently, undocumented aliens and smugglers just drove
across in the remote area near Nogales, Ariz. The border is to the left of
the barrier, seen here June 21, 2006. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jim
Greenhill) (Released)
Tom Pittman, Border Patrol field operations supervisor,
stands at the U.S. border with Mexico near Nogales, Ariz., on June 21, 2006.
Pittman said the recent arrival of National Guard troops for Operation Jump
Start and the promise of more is welcomed by agents who are stretched thin
securing the border in the hotspot for narcotics and other smuggling. The
National Guard is assisting the Border Patrol by acting as the eyes and ears
for agents and filling positions that free more agents to apprehend
criminals and undocumented aliens on the frontline. The monument is one of
the official markers indicating the exact border. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt.
Jim Greenhill) (Released) 
A fence runs along the U.S. border with Mexico in
Nogales, Ariz., on June 21, 2006. Border Patrol agents say they do not
experience a single shift when they do not see undocumented aliens climbing
the fence. The National Guard is helping the Border Patrol beef up border
security. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released) 
A fence runs through it: The U.S. border with Mexico in Nogales, Ariz., on
June 21, 2006. Border Patrol agents say the town is a hotspot in the
struggle to secure the border. National Guard members who have arrived as
part of Operation Jump Start are assisting agents with tasks ranging from
welding the fence to repair holes cut by smugglers to maintaining Border
Patrol vehicles, running communications and gathering intelligence about
border activity. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jim Greenhill) (Released)