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Border enforcement office doesn't settle for borderline success

US Marine Corps News

7/14/2009 By Lance Cpl. Jason Hernandez, Multi National Force - West

AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq — When traveling across the vast deserts of the Middle East it can be difficult to see where one nation ends and another begins. The only evidence to mark any sort of national boundary might be a lone, rusted strip of barbed wire or the occasional border fort.

Yet, on what would seem to be an undefined border, there seem to be defined successes.

“What we’re seeing right now is the culmination of years of work of Border Transition Teams and Port of Entry Transition Teams,” said Maj. Richard J. Mendelow, the Department of Border Enforcement coordinator for Multi National Force - West. “It’s the teams out there, and the teams that have been there before us, that have made it possible for us to get this hands-off with the Iraqi Border Police.”

As the U.S. military prepares for the responsible drawdown from Iraq outlined by President Obama, the BTTs are leaving their mark, a mark which has almost literally been drawn in the sand between countries.

“The last bit of what we’re trying to do is get the Iraqis more involved in border defense, which they have already taken to quite well,” said Sgt. Cato Johnson, Department of Border Enforcement section chief for MNF-W. “We’re putting in some initiative programs in order to make the IBP more proactive in their efforts as opposed to reactive.”

To better assist the Iraqis in understanding newer tactics, techniques and procedures, mobile training teams have been established. The mobile teams move from district to district and customize their modular training curriculum to cater to the IBP in that area.

Though challenges remain, Mendelow has noticed that the main hurdle of operating with foreign forces has been overcome, noting how the men of the BTTs have broken cultural barriers and come to understand their counterparts.

“Operating out here, it’s important that we not only understand the physical landscape, but the human landscape as well,” said Mendelow.

Though constantly working to improve, the BTTs and PoETTs have seen great progress. Mendelow went on to give an example.

“A short while ago, at one of the ports of entry into this province, a gentleman tried to come through with a passport from Jordan. The strange thing was that he was coming from Syria,” recalled Mendelow. “This stuck out as somewhat odd to the IBP out there, so they searched him and his possessions, and they came across sniper videos and printouts of maps from Google Earth.

“We’ve seen a significant change in the way the IBP does business. They’re not letting the bad guys through and that’s what people expect of them.”

As the men of the BTTs prepare to depart Iraq and leave its defense to the Iraqi armed forces, incidents like these can make them assured of one thing: The example they have left as Marines has not been lost by the Iraqis they have helped to train, mentor and coach.