150 NEBRASKA NATIONAL GUARD MEMBERS TO DEPLOY TO SOUTHWEST BORDER IN OCTOBER

NEBRASKA- Two Nebraska National Guard units are slated to deploy to support U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the southwest border in early October.

The deployment could last up to a year, according to Maj. Scott Ingalsbe, spokesperson for the Nebraska National Guard.

A total of about 150 guardsmen from the Nebraska Army National Guard’s 1-376th Aviation Battalion, based in Grand Island, and the 128th Engineer Battalion, based in Columbus, will deploy at the direction of the federal government, according to Ingalsbe. They’re replacing units from other states that have been deployed there, he said.

“Under the direction of U.S. Northern Command and its forward operational command, U.S. Army North, the Nebraska National Guard units’ mission is to assist CBP by providing aviation and engineer support,” Ingalsbe wrote in an email.

He did not offer a more specific location where the soldiers will be based.

Deployments are always in support of a lead agency’s request for assistance for some specific capability, he said. Sometimes that could be for law enforcement, though that is not the case with this deployment. In this case, Ingalsbe said, the soldiers will “provide mission enhancing support” to Customs and Border Protection’s “border security operations” so its agents can “conduct their law enforcement mission more efficiently.”

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