I have a question and hopefully you can help answer it! I was having lunch at one of our local restaurants and I happened to sit across from a group of uniformed and non-uniformed Border Patrol agents wearing workout clothes. I overheard their conversation as they were talking about how they are getting paid to teach CrossFit instead of working the field for their shifts. Now my question is, was this female joking or are we really paying their salary to teach a physical education class? — Taxpayer, Imperial County
We’re going to let the U.S. Border Patrol’s statement speak first. We posed the letter writer’s question to Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Fabian Morales last week.
“Training encompasses a significant portion of Border Patrol operations to enhance our capabilities in securing America’s borders. When agents are not patrolling the border they are training in firearms, self-defense and arrest techniques, as well as participating in health and fitness training.
“Border Patrol agents are certified and train our workforce in many areas of discipline to include teaching the CrossFit program, among many other programs.”
From the standpoint of the agents themselves, Agent Lombardo Amaya, the president of the National Border Patrol Council Local 2554, explained simply that there is an emphasis on mental and physical training for agents so that they can better be prepared to do their jobs in the field.
He cited weapons training, tactical training, searching for tunnels, self-defense, swift-water rescue and a host of other training agents do on-duty, that other agents train them in.
Amaya said the same goes for physical fitness, and CrossFit is among the classes given to agents. He said in order to carry out things such as swift-water rescue or physically demanding duties, an agent must be physically conditioned.
Before this question, though, Amaya had asked whether agent-trainers were getting paid extra for leading CrossFit classes, and he found out they were not. It is part of their normal duty pay.
CrossFit, from what we have seen, isn’t gym strength or gym fit, but more of a functionally-based fitness program that employs endurance and fast-twitch strength movements that people use in the course of physically demanding jobs.
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