Walking the Line

Joshua Cozzens along the US-Mexico border

Alum finds career opportunities all along the U.S. border

The southwestern United States along the border with Mexico is infamous for its dry heat-with temperatures topping the 100s. For Joshua Cozzens '07, who spent roughly two years as a U.S. Border Patrol agent out of McAllen, Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico, the blazing sun was just part of what made his work intense. His checkpoint post on a highway connecting San Antonio and Houston found him patrolling a major route for smuggling drugs and illegal aliens. "The amount of traffic that comes across illegally," he says, "is hard to comprehend."

Which is not to say that Cozzens was unprepared for the dangers of his job. On the contrary, during a yearlong deployment with the U.S. Army in Iraq in 2004, he led a squad of combat engineers in the risky task of destroying munitions and ordinances left over from the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s; these materials were being converted to improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

While Cozzens could handle the heat and hypervigilance of both his Iraq service and his southwestern stint with the border patrol, he was nonetheless pleased when an opportunity allowed him to return to Vermont this past autumn. Stationed in Swanton since October, the Huntington native and his wife are now closer to family-and to more familiar climes.
Cozzens credits Champlain College, where he earned his B.S. in Criminal Justice, with exposing him to the range of possibilities a career in law enforcement might offer. Transferring to Champlain in 2006, following his tour of duty in the Middle East, he cultivated an interest in the federal sector after deciding not to pursue a military career.

"During my deployment to Iraq, I saw everything that was really going on in the world," he recalls, "and the necessity for security globally and domestically. Federal law enforcement was a way to feel that I was providing security for the United States domestically." As an adult learner at Champlain, he "took advantage of everything offered," he says, including the Criminal Justice Club and especially chances to hear guest speakers representing such agencies as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Secret Service; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He also benefited from working with Career Services to scout out job opportunities, he adds. (See "On-the-Job Training" article in the fall 2009 issue.)

Cozzens's homecoming may not be permanent, however. His position with the U.S. Border Patrol opens up work opportunities literally all along the border-on land and sea. "I've never held myself to a certain location because the career opportunities are vast," he says. "I'll see where this takes me."- Erik Esckilsen