Local National Guard soldiers help fight a different kind of war

                              Flying over the tree-dotted ridge and circling the valley, one can barely
                              see the forest floor through the thick canopy of foliage.

                              A flash of bright blue and yellow below catches even the most untrained
                              of eyes, while the seasoned California National Guard Counterdrug Task
                              Force veterans catch glimpses of the fluorescent green glory that is their
                              target - a series of large marijuana gardens planted in the rich Tehama
                              County soil.

                              As the rotors beat at the clear blue sky, the helicopter, working under
                              the direction of the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, moves lower
                              for a better look. At this height, the smell of the marijuana is nearly
                              overpowering, assailing the nasal passages as the downdraft from the
                              chopper reaches the delicate plants.

                              The helicopter moves on after a moment, heading for the top of a nearby
                              ridge where an abandoned hunting lodge and its relatively flat and
                              spacious driveway provide a perfect landing pad.

                              The hike down the steep ridge does not take long. It is the hike back up,
                              after long hours spent cutting down the 4-foot tall or higher plants,
                              bundling them into nets and readying them for airlift out, that tests one's
                              limits.

                              But the five men with the Counterdrug Task Force, who are assisting
                              CAMP in the eradication operation, are unfazed by the exertion.

                              The task force consists of more than 430 active duty members of both
                             the Army and Air National Guard and provides year-round drug
                              interdiction and Drug Demand Reduction support at the request of more
                              than 200 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies and
                              community based organizations.

                              In the last four years, the California National Guard assisted in seizing
                              $9.8 billion in illicit drugs. The task force has been in existence for 15
                              years.

                              This particular team is on its 33rd drug supply reduction operation of the
                              year. Teams throughout the state have completed more than 1,000
                              operations this year, said Capt. Kim Oliver, public affairs officer for the
                              task force.

                              Those operations can include marijuana eradication efforts, ports of
                              entry cargo inspections, ground and air reconnaissance and intelligence
                              analysis.

                              But the Counterdrug Task Force members are also equally active in drug
                              demand reduction efforts, Oliver said.

                              The Guard supports yearly events such as Red Ribbon Week activities,
                              the U.S. Attorney General's Drug Education for Youth leadership camps,
                              National Teen Leadership Program and "Drug Store" programs - which
                              demonstrate through role play the impact drugs can have on a young
                              person's life, she said.

                              Most recently, the Guard has begun directing its drug demand reduction
                              efforts at adults - teaching parents how to recognize illicit substances
                              and paraphernalia and how to determine if their child may be using
                              illegal drugs, Oliver said.

                              But on this particular day they are attacking the problem at its source. As
                              they traverse the rough terrain that will lead them to the garden, there
                              are some places where there is no trail at all. A bent or broken branch,
                              or perhaps some trampled brush, is the only indication that someone
                              had passed through there previously. 

                              The campsite, where those who planted and tended the marijuana
                              garden lived throughout the season, is primitive but also somewhat
                              elaborate.

                              The dome tent where the gardeners slept reveals itself to be the bright
                              spot of blue and yellow seen from above. Mere steps away is a workout
                              area of sorts. A chin-up bar has been structured from a sturdy branch
                              while another branch and some mid-sized boulders have been fashioned
                              into a crude weight-lifting set.

                              CAMP Director Sonya Barna said it is not uncommon for them to find such
                              items. The people are paid by the Mexican syndicates to live in the
                              gardens and tend to them have a lot of time on their hands, she said.

                              The gardens, because of their size, the fact that the growers were living
                              in them and other clues like the presence of weapons, were believed to
                              be the work of Mexican syndicates.

                              "The Mexican nationals, they grow in mass," Barna said. "They're doing
                              the same thing they did in the meth industry."

                              She said the marijuana they are eradicating now is not the same
                              marijuana it was 10 years ago.

                              Through breeding and cloning efforts, growers have managed to
                              increase the THC content from 2 percent to 18 percent, Barna said.

                              "You will see the THC coming off these plants," she said before the trek
                              into the gardens began. "It's crystallized and just dripping off these
                              plants."

                              Armed with machetes, K-Bar knives or hatchets, the five members of the
                              Counterdrug Task Force, accompanied by a Tehama County sheriff's
                              deputy, crossed a shallow creek and began working their way up
                              another ridge, chopping down the plants as they went.

                              During a briefing earlier in the day, Barna had thanked the five members
                              of the Counterdrug Task Force for their assistance in the operation,
                              which was later determined to be the largest operation of the season.

                              Already, prior to this operation, CAMP had eradicated more than 257,000
                              plants, she said.

                              No exact count of the plants was immediately available, but the series of
                              gardens, planted on both U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land
                              Management lands, was estimated to contain in excess of 25,000 plants.

                              Using CAMP calculations, with an average yield of 1 pound per plant at
                              an estimated $4,000 per pound, the garden was worth, at a minimum,
                              $100 million.

                              CAMP Regional Operations Commander Bruce Mosqueda said the East
                              Fork Elder Creek area had been under surveillance for some time. 

                              There were at least 20 Mexican nationals believed to be living in them
                              and on the morning of the eradication operation, BLM agents chased
                              three of the men through the woods but were unable to apprehend
                              them.

                              "It's such a big business now, they co-op," Barna said. "California is the
                              source for marijuana."