The first time you face armed, foreign troops on American soil, something inside you changes. You experience a cold, hard sensation deep in your core. There is an internal shift as the reality sinks in that despite having the strongest military in the world, there are Americans who are not safe on their home soil.
Obama and Mexican President Calderón
I experienced that shift on a cold October night in 2005, when, at a distance of approximately 21 yards, we filmed armed, uniformed soldiers escorting a mule train into the United States.
Guardsmen from Tennessee experienced it in the same location 15 months later when soldiers from Mexico advanced on their observation post. The foreign troops twice attempted to flank the Guardsmen. The Guardsmen were twice ordered to observe and fall back until reinforcements arrived.
Countless rank and file Border Patrol agents have been experiencing the same thing for years, far more intensely. They just aren’t allowed to talk about it openly.
The deputies of the Hudspeth County Sheriff’s department and Texas State Troopers shared that experience on Jan. 23, 2006 when Mexican military troops crossed 200 yards into Texas. The Mexican troops held off US law enforcement while they retrieved one drug laden SUV, unloaded and then burned a second.
During this standoff, Mexican soldiers were filmed flanking the deputies and taking cover in the riverside brush. A cartel member is seen removing the hat off of one of the soldiers, presumably so that his insignia could not be seen. That visual clearly illustrated that the soldier was working for and taking orders from, the Narco Soldados.
True to their courage and integrity, US Border Patrol agents raced to stand alongside their fellow law officers, but they were soon called off by their supervisors. The Border Patrol agents were ordered to pull back from the confrontation. That memory still lingers in parts of Texas. The Texans are ready to go it alone if need be, all they ask is for President Obama to give them access to military surplus equipment.
Just last week, Hudspeth County deputies, my cousin Shawn, and I stood on the banks of the Rio Grande at that same crossing when gunfire broke out across the river from us. A lot of gunfire. Mexico has some of the strictest gun laws on the planet. When sustained semi-automatic gunfire erupts in Mexico, it is the Cartels, the Military, or both.
The Cartel’s have their own private armies and unlimited financial resources.
The Zetas are one of the best financed private armies in the world. They have helicopters, submersibles, and state of the art encrypted communications equipment. Seized Zeta weapons have included South Korean hand grenades, rocket launchers and 60 millimeter mortars.
Contrary to what the current administration would have you believe, you cannot buy 60 millimeter mortars at Wal Mart. Not even in Texas.
The Hudspeth County Sheriff’s department is like many other counties in Texas: They do not have enough body armor for their personnel and they do not have automatic rifles. Many of the semi automatic rifles that the men carry were purchased at their own expense.
Sheriff West has already spent three times last year’s ammunition budget in the first three months of 2009. He is having difficulty acquiring more ammunition for his men. “Give us your junk,” Sheriff West asks President Obama.
He would love to take a shopping trip through the military’s surplus before it goes to auction. He needs air support, weapons, ammunition, body armor, generators, bulldozers, tractors, 4×4 vehicles, gasoline, diesel fuel, ground sensors, surveillance equipment, communications equipment, and MREs.
This is also true in Brooks County, Texas. Sheriff Rodriguez often has to ask the manager of his local sporting goods store for discounts on ammunition in order for his men to be able to afford to practice. Brooks County deputies make about $24,000 per year. To effectively do their job, they use their own money to purchase night vision equipment which retails for about $5,400.
Brooks County Inspector Daniel Davila says that 75% of the crime that they respond to is related to illegal alien and narcotics trafficking. They currently have two and a half semi trailers full of seized narcotics.
At first glance, the Sheriff’s department compound looks like a used care dealership because it is surrounded by over three hundred seized vehicles. The Brooks County Sheriff’s department has recently doubled in size to eight deputies, but Sheriff Rodriguez says that they need at least 15 to 20 more deputies to effectively do their jobs.
He does not believe that it is safe for women to stay by themselves on many of the big ranches in his county. Zeta squads armed with automatic weapons have been sighted on ranches in his county, 69 miles north of the border.
Jeff Davis County Sheriff Rick McIvon has two officers to cover 2,250 miles. Not long ago, 40 miles north of the border on his father-in-law’s ranch, men wearing black, their heads covered in ski masks, ambushed a ranch hand as he rode fence. The men jerked the cowboy off his horse, held their automatic weapons to his head and warned him not to move for one hour.
I asked Sheriff McIvon if his in-laws were going to be scared off their ranch. “No,” he said, “They didn’t scare them out. They are going to keep ranching. They have been there many, many years. They will be there till they decide to go to heaven.”
Like his neighbors, Sheriff McIvon also needs military surplus. He already has a helicopter pilot, but he would love a used helicopter, spare parts, and aviation fuel. It would be a great force multiplier if he could get remote surveillance equipment, sensors, and infra red scopes. He says that military surplus equipment would help him more than anything.
This week, Minority Leader John Boehner was gracious enough to allow me to plead the Sheriff’s case to him in person. How about you, President Obama? These law officers are the point of the spear. Will you give them the tools they need to do their jobs?
Lastly, I asked Sheriff McIvon, “If President Obama gives you all the help that you need, can you Texans win this war? He grinned, “I think we can take care of our side of it. We will do the best we could. I promise you that. We can take care of what we need to take care of….I guarantee ya. The Texans are going to stand tall and they will be pretty dag gum tough.”
Chris Burgard
Bordermovie.com
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