In a message dated 12/12/2002 9:52:39 AM Mountain Standard Time,
PilotRob@webtv.net writes:
> I mean stories on the INS
> etc. and other federal agency irresponsibility in these respects surface
> almost monthly these days.
>
> I am not necessarily advocating shooting
> anyone but it would be made clear that with the deployment of military
> personnel
> to protect the nation's borders would come a world-wide sort of
> declaration
I don't truly disagree Bob. I was only stating the situation as it stands on
the border right now. I truthfully think the Border Patrol should be more
para-military and much much larger than it is. Heck, they could be a form of
reserve military, but the politics of the sitiuation, at least on the
southern border, make this difficult.
The majority of the population around here either came from Mexico recently,
or still have a lot a family living there. They tend to think of El
Paso/Juarez as one large city. There is a huge movement to make the border
invisible, both from the rank and file citizens on both sides that want to
make it easier for grandma to come and visit, and from the US business owners
that want additional shoppers, at any cost.
Also, we are talking big bucks to secure the border completely. A few years
ago, just before he ran for congress and won, the local BP chief pretty much
closed the border in El Paso for illegals. There are BP cars every 300 yards
or so, within sight of each other, all along the most poplated area of the
border. However, this only created a great surge of illegal crossings in NM
where the BP is more sparse, or southwest of El Paso, which is pretty
desolate also. The geography along the border here is delolate desert.
Illegals die almost daily while trying to walk acoss literally hundreds of
miles of desert. Ranchers have taken to being vigilantes to protect there
livestock and homes.
A few years ago, the BP employed some Marine Recon teams out in the
desolation ....and one of the Marine snipers cancelled Christmas for a young
shepard (US CItizen) that what apparently shooting at rabbits with his 22, on
his own property, while tending his goats. I don't think the Marine was to
blame in the incident, as there were a lot of extenuating circumstances, but
if reinforces my position that the soldiers are not trained for this type of
action. Also, with the literally thousands of miles of border, it would take
a doubling or tripling of our armed forces to do this. Figure at least one
soldier every 100 feet? A minimum wage security guard, about $7 an hour with
taxes and benefits, costs $61,320.00 per year for 24/7/365 coverage. Thats
$3,237,696.00 per mile. I've always heard that one soldier in the field
takes three in support behind the lines.
Currently, the BP stops every vehicle that crosses the border and every
vehicle that leaves a populated area, and they patrol the rest with more or
less regular sweeps by ground patrols, helicoptors, and other aircraft. In
some sensitive areas they use listening devices and motion detectors.
I wish I had a better answer to put forth, but I don't. I think "Dubya" is
on the right track to take the fight to the origin in the middle east. Like
all things political, if we hit them where they live I think we will have
more effect that if we spend billions to catch the occasional ground troop.
Of course, it only takes one.....
Robert B. Houston
Santa Teresa, NM
'74 Midget
'63 TR4
'03 Beetle
... Deck us all with Boston Charlie, Walla Walla, Wash, and Kalamazoo.
Nora's freezin on the trolley, swaller doller califlower, allagaroo!
Pogo Possum
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