MAY 8, 2025 — The undeveloped desert around the southern border is a harsh and merciless place.
The same attributes that make it desirable for Yuma Proving Ground testing and evaluating armaments in an extreme hot environment make it deadly for the unlucky individual caught in its expanse without water.
Thousands of undocumented migrants still attempt to pass through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Yuma sector each year, and the U.S. Army currently leads Joint Task Force Southern Border to assist with border security. Though YPG is not expected to house troops, the post’s Training and Exercise Management Office is facilitating training for Soldiers involved in the JTF’s operations.
“YPG wasn’t a realistic location for them to billet on a long-term basis because we don’t have mess halls and other facilities conventionally associated with an Army post,” said Luis Arroyo, TEMO chief. “YPG’s primary mission is conducting developmental testing of military equipment with a largely civilian workforce.”
One example of YPG’s support of the border security mission is training Military Police to use the Ground-Based Operational Surveillance System (Expeditionary), a multi-spectral sensor and persistent surveillance system that underwent developmental testing at YPG in years past.
“The purpose of the training is to equip soldiers on how to use this radar system,” said 2nd Lt. Erica Esterly of the 759th Military Police Battalion at Fort Carson, Colo. “Picking up on movement, heat signatures, anything that would indicate the presence of people being where they shouldn’t be and using these systems to monitor where the traffic is flowing.”
“Our mission with this was to provide space for the training unit,” said David DuPuis, TEMO exercise coordinator. “Our goal was to deconflict their training activities with any test operations. We facilitate anything from meals and generators to port-a-johns and hand washing stations.”
In addition to the G-BOSS-(E) training, YPG is poised to support future units with things like weapons qualification range space.
“All of our different staff sections from our battalion have been in contact with YPG folks for sustainment and other needs,” said Esterly. “The communication has been really good and YPG is helping us as much as they can.”
By Mark Schauer