The clear blue skies above Arizona are perfect for training the U.S. Air Force pilots. In the desert north-west of Tucson there is live bombing practice. It's a daily occurrence for A-10, F-16, and F-35 pilots at the Barry Goldwater Range.
"It's very hard to control access to a million acres, it's not all fenced in as you might think, we're not staffed to watch every inch of the land to see who is out there," said Range Director Chas Buchannan.
So who would be traveling through a live bombing range? People coming into the country illegally and their smugglers.
"We don't want to see them there, we don't want to see them get hurt, because of the business we're doing," said Buchannan.
Still they come, an illegal border crosser or smuggler can throw a wrench into the operations although the incursions are rare.
"When somebody is reported, we will stop operations and hold the airplanes high. They can still use the airspace, but cannot continue with weapons deployment or dropping bombs," said Buchannan.
Some are critical of the fact that not only are people coming into the country illegally but that they use a Federal government installation as a pathway is disturbing.
"These should be secure installations, here is a bombing range use by our military for their target and proficiency practice, and they have to stop operations because there are illegals or smugglers coming through and they have to clear it," said Sheriff Paul Babeu.
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http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-news/50862876-story
Hmmm ... why not just bomb them while they're on the range? Wouldn't that be good practice for what the pilots will be doing once they get to Syria?
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