the air national guard also participates in noncombat support missions that sometimes take it beyond the u.s. boundaries. for example, in operation winter freeze, from november 2004 through january 2005, nearly 250 army and air national guardsmen provided assistance to u.s. customs and border patrol (cbp) along 295 miles of the united states-canada border. that operation included military personnel from u.s. northern command's joint task force north who helped the border patrol to, "...keep potential terrorists out of the country and to break up smuggling rings that try to get them in." [in order] to detect, deter, and monitor suspicious actions ... air guard crews flew twin-engine, c-26 airplanes out of syracuse, new york"