Small Wars Journal

Border Troops in Texas Finish Laying Razor Wire, Pentagon Expects to Send Most Home by Dec. 15

Mon, 11/19/2018 - 9:44pm

Border Troops in Texas Finish Laying Razor Wire, Pentagon Expects to Send Most Home by Dec. 15 by Corey Dickstein - Stars & Stripes

The roughly 5,800 active-duty troops sent to locations along the U.S.-Mexico border ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm elections will spend Thanksgiving in Texas, Arizona, and California, but they are expected to return home in time for Christmas, Pentagon officials said Monday.

The troops supporting the operation assisting U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents once known as Faithful Patriot are expected to return to their home stations by Dec. 15, said Army Col. Rob Manning, a Defense Department spokesman. He indicated the Pentagon did not expect to deploy more troops to the border region “unless directed otherwise.”

In fact, Manning announced some servicemembers could return home before Dec. 15 as they complete their work stringing coiled razor wire and emplacing other temporary barriers at locations on and near the southern border.

“The bottom line is that our numbers will be commensurate with the capabilities that … CBP is requesting,” he said…

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