The AP reports that the Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman “will visit Utah National Guard troops stationed at the Mexican border in Arizona during a break in the Western Governors’ Association annual meeting Monday.”
As with others before, the AP is treating the Utah Guard as “the first to deploy along the border under President Bush’s plan to send up to 6,000 National Guard members to the four southern border states.”
But in fact the Utah Guard would be on the border if Operation Jump Start had never been jump started. There has for a long time been a low-level Guard presence at the border (see the Reuters report below). But now they count as photo ops in an election year and get counted as news.
As Guard Chief Gen. Blum explained to the Armed Forces Press Service, “When you take the counternarcotics mission and the innovative readiness training initiative, we have well over 500 National Guardsmen on our border this morning, but not as part of Operation Jump Start.” Sources: Governor Huntsman to visit Utah Guard troops working on border, LAST UPDATE: 6/8/2006 2:35:09 PM, SALT LAKE CITY (AP).
‘Operation Jump Start’ Puts 2,500 Guardsmen on Border
American Forces Press Service | Steven Donald Smith | June 07, 2006.
MoPress 
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